The Star Children: Bowser's Inside Story
by FairyTalePrincess16
Summary: During an important meeting about the blorbs, Bowser gets tricked by Fawful and sucks Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario and their friends inside his body! Until they could stop Fawful for conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, the heroes had to form an alliance with Bowser while trapped inside him. What could be Fawful's true goal?
1. Blorbs Crisis

**Since I was already writing some chapters while waiting for the intended date, I was getting quite impatient, so I decided to post the next story now! Once again, this is a remake of _Bowser's Inside Story_ , but with more characters in it. It's not going to be Sonic characters, sadly. After all, I warned in my previous story's ending that they won't show up here. **

**Actually, before even coming up with this Saga, I originally planned for Sonic and his friends to show up in this story remake, but once I came up with this final version, this one with the Star Children, I scrapped that because it would make the story too complicated, since the Star Children will be the key characters in this story. Unlike its two predecessors, the female guide will show up quite late in this remake.**

 **Alright, with that said, let's enjoy Bowser's Inside Story! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Blorbs Crisis**

It has been two months since Mario and Luigi alongside their best friends Sonic and Tails saved the past and present Mushroom Kingdoms from an alien invasion by teaming up with their younger selves. Once the infants returned to their period, Sonic, Tails and Amy stayed at the Mushroom Kingdom until their month of visiting was over. So still today, the blue hedgehog and his friends are in their home, Mobius.

Today is a fine and peaceful morning at Toad Town, where all of the Toads were taking a walk and we could hear the birds singing. Of course, past the town is Princess Peach's Castle. Speaking of which, let's take a look inside.

Inside the castle, Princess Peach was at her kitchen, taking out a tray of fresh sugar cookies with white frosting and sprinkles from the oven.

"Ah, they smell so nice." she scented the sweet smell of the cookies as she placed the tray on the balcony. "I'm sure Mario, Luigi and their friends will love it!"

"Hey, princess!" Toadsworth came at the kitchen's door.

"Toadsworth! Have they arrived?" Peach asked. "They sure are fast!"

"Sincerely, my dear." Toadsworth nodded. "Make sure you get ready to receive them at the throne room."

"Thanks. I'll get ready!" Peach replied as Toadsworth leaves the room.

At the castle's entrance, we could see Mario entering at the front gate by doing his famous 'Wahoo!' jump before turning around and calling:

"Come on, guys! Hurry!"

Then, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Wario came in and joined up with Mario.

"Wow, you sure seems excited, Mario!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"Yeah! We took forever to catch up!" Donkey Kong added.

Soon, Luigi came in too, but his entrance was quite pitiful; he was hopping on one leg and he still didn't button up his overalls. But then, he lost his balance and face-planted on the ground with his work boot slipping out of his right foot. He gets back on his feet and slips his boot back in his foot.

"Mario… Why did you have to wake me that early?" he said not amused. "You didn't even gave me time to get dressed!"

"Well, that's because I wanted to meet up with the princess as early as possible!" Mario replied. "And jeez, Luigi! Hurry up and put your pants on!"

Luigi lets out a sigh before he buttons up his overalls. Eventually, a Toad came in and greeted the group:

"Oh! You're actually here! That was quick!"

"That's because Mario here wanted to meet with the princess as early as possible." Wario glared at Mario.

"Oh, shut up!" Mario glared back. " _Gosh, why did I even invite Wario along?_ "

"Anyways, Princess Peach is waiting for you at her throne room." The Toad said as he left.

The group made their way to the throne room, where they found Peach sitting on her throne. They approached her and bowed, with Mario, Luigi and even Wario taking out their caps.

"Am I glad to see you here, boys." Peach said as she stands up from her throne. "I'm surprised to see that you arrived this early, but you came in just at the right time! I have something for you."

She walks to a small desk at the left side where a clean white plate with the sugar cookies was placed on. She picks up the plate and holds it in front of the boys as big smiles showed on their faces upon eyeing at the sugar cookies. "Would you like a sugar cookie?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes!" all of the boys nodded as they each took a sugar cookie.

"Mmm… Yummy cookie, princess!" Yoshi licked his lips after swallowing his sugar cookie.

"Yes, yes, yes! I love sweets!" Wario exclaimed as he takes a bite on his sugar cookie.

"My favorite thing is bananas, but this cookie tastes good!" Donkey Kong complimented.

"I'm glad you liked it!" Peach smiled.

"Say, princess, do you still remember our date at Star Hill?" Mario asked.

"Oh, yes! That date was beautiful, Mario. Thanks again for taking me there."

"You're welcome!"

The group then gathered to have a chat together.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

At Toad Town, a young Toad was making his way back home. Once inside, he calls his mother:

"Mom, I'm home!"

The Toad's mother, who was cooking dinner, turned around to her son and responded:

"Well, hi there, sweetie! Home early today, huh?"

"Ms. Ingletoad just wouldn't stop talking. Blah blah blaaaaaah!" the Toad scolded. "So I snuck out and came home!"

"You naughty little scamp! You'll never grow up into a fine Toad with such bad behavior!" the mother said sternly at him.

"Fiiiiiiiiine, Mom, whatever." The Toad sighed as he takes a seat next to the table. "So, is dinner ready yet?" he asked.

"Yes, dear, it is." The mother answered. "But call your dad before we eat."

"OK!" the Toad replied and went over to his dad and called: "DAAAAAAD! Dinner's ready!" but then, he saw something that didn't seem right. "Dad?" suddenly… "YEEEEEEK!" he let out a shriek, which caught his mom's attention.

"What is it, dear?" she asked once the Toad came back, but he was freaking out.

"It's Dad! He's…"

Before the Toad could finish, earthquakes came in, and all of a sudden, the Toad's father came in by rolling and bursting through the wall, but he was huge and swollen. In a panic, the Toad and his mother rushed out of the house.

"NOOO! HONEY!" the mother shouted in horror.

* * *

In an instant, this news spread out in the whole kingdom:

' _THE BLORBS!_

 _Mushroom Kingdom Marred by Mystery Malady! The Blorbs! It comes without warning! First, you balloon to blimp size! Then the rolling! You roll away! Oh, the horror of the Blorbs! As of press time, the cause and cure are unknown… Day by day, the number of blorbed Toads swells… Seeing how grave the situation is, Princess Peach convenes an emergency meeting at her castle…'_

The conference hall was a long-stretched room with two long blue tables placed across from each other with an aisle going between them. Many Toads, Mario, Luigi, Wario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong were sitting at either table. At the end of the room was a podium with a projector screen behind it, with Peach standing on the podium.

"Oh! How absolutely wretched…" Toadsworth lamented. "Such a thing has never happened in the history of the kingdom!"

"Soon the entire Mushroom Kingdom will get the blorbs... We've gotta find the cause and get this place back to normal!" a Toad declared.

"Yeah, obviously, but we've never dealt with something like this!" another Toad informed. "I have absolutely no idea what to do! I suggest we panic!"

"Pull yourself together, man! We have to do SOMETHING!" an adult Toad demanded. "My son… He's also… He's also got the blorbs!" he begins to sob: "Wah…"

"Princess! We still await…" Toadsworth said.

"Yes… My friends and I sent word to the Star Sprites for help, but… We've gotten no response." Peach replied saddened.

"PARDON ME!" suddenly, a cheery voice of a girl came in.

"Ah, glorious! I daresay our Star Sprite has arrived!" Toadsworth exclaimed.

Then, a small, yellow round flying creature came into the room. "Sorry I'm late! This castle's huge!" it stated.

" _THAT is a Star Sprite?_ " Wario thought while raising an eyebrow.

"Princess… This thing is…what?" Toadsworth asked.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Starlow!" the creature named Starlow greeted. "Peach and her five friends sent word of trouble in the Mushroom Kingdom… So, as a representative of the Star Sprites, here I am! HELLO YELLO!"

"Hello…what…?" Luigi raised an eyebrow.

"I also didn't catch that…" Mario whispered to him.

"Mercy! Such pep! Such verve! Such unswerving confidence!" Toadsworth exclaimed in glory. "So you'll be able to simply cure the blorbs, then! Correct?"

"Oh… Uh… Well…" Starlow murmured.

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

"Hrm… If this is even beyond the power of a Star Sprite…" Toadsworth pondered saddened.

"Well, I did some research on similar afflictions, but… The blorbs is in a class of its own. It seems to be incurable…" Starlow lamented. "If we could just find a cause, we'd have a place to start…"

"The medical staff did what we could to erase the swelling, but as far as we can tell, we can't reverse the effects…" a female intern Toad said.

"You docs gotta do SOMETHING! This is a national emergency!" another Toad shouted.

"Thanks for the news flash! Obviously we want to help!" the intern shouted back in a sarcastic tone.

"Psst… Who is that over there?" Yoshi whispered to a nearby Toad.

"Dr. Toadley's intern." The Toad answered.

"Dr. Toadley?" Donkey Kong questioned.

"He's a really famous doctor. He knows EVERYTHING. He couldn't make it to today's meeting, so his intern is here."

"Hmm…" Mario pondered.

"Well, I have many patients, so you'll have to excuse me." The intern said and left.

"Blast… Doctors are stumped… The Star Sprite is helpless… To whom might we turn?" Toadsworth grumbled.

"Look, I'm really sorry, OK?" Starlow argued. "There are some things that even a Star Sprite can't do! I guess we just give up, huh?"

"Hmph! How insolent!" Toadsworth scoffed.

"Both of you… Calm down." Peach demanded calmly, but also sternly.

"Yeah, what's wrong with you, Toadsworth?!" Toadbert questioned. "There IS someone we can count on, by boogity!"

"Oh! Quite right! Hope endures!" Toadsworth exclaimed. With that, everyone looked at Mario and Luigi.

"Uh… Don't even look at us, everyone; we also have no idea what to do!" Mario protested.

"We might have worked as doctors before, but that doesn't mean we know how to cure an unknown disease!" Luigi threw in.

"Hmm..." Toadbert puzzled, until he remembered something: "I think I might have a clue about where the disease came from." He then takes out a purple book as he speaks: "Now then, going on what little information we've unearthed… The cause MAY be a mushroom sold by a local merchant."

"Oh dear! A mushroom?" Peach said surprised. "You mean to tell me that a mushroom causes the blorbs?"

"Well, yeah, we interviewed all the blorbed Toads we could, and they all said they'd bought Blorb Mushrooms."

"Blorb Mushrooms?" Toadsworth questioned. "Perplexing… Not a local variety, of that I'm quite sure. What sort of rapscallion would sell such a thing?"

"Well, according to one witness, it was a fellow in a cape… All signs point to the suspect not being from this kingdom."

Hearing this, Mario started to have some memories of one of the past adventures: a fellow in a cape, not from the Mushroom Kingdom… Could it really be? That fellow from the Beanbean Kingdom?

"Well… Whoever he is, he's our only lead." Starlow said. "So it's decided! Let's go find him!"

"Master Mario! Master Luigi! And Master Yoshi, Master DK and Master Wario too!" Toadsworth exclaimed. "Your hour is at hand! Go forth and stomp this fellow as if he were Bowser!"

"You got it!" Mario grinned while nodding.

"GWAHAHA!" just then, a very familiar laugh was heard.

"Oh great..." Mario muttered.

"Did someone just page the king of awesome?" none other than Bowser came into the room, scaring the Toads. "PEACH!" he yelled. "So I'm an outcast, huh?! What'd I do to deserve this?!" he then breaks apart the table of the conference room with a powerful punch and stomped his way towards Peach at the podium.

"What are you doing here?!" Peach asked sternly at him. "We're in an important meeting! The kingdom's in danger!"

"Gee, PARDON ME!" Bowser replied roughly. "Guess what? I live here, Your Royal Genius! I've got as much right to be in this meeting as anyone! I mean, right? Help me out here! Toadsworth! Back me up!"

"That… Erm… That's… Well…" Toadsworth stuttered.

"Don't be ridiculous! You have no right to be here! Get out!" Starlow yelled angrily at Bowser.

That's where Bowser opened his mouth to breathe fire at the podium. Luckily, Mario jumped in and managed to catch Peach and carry her out of the way before she could be fried. Luigi, Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong also jumped to the side to avoid getting burned too.

"Crud!" Bowser saw his failure and stops breathing fire as Mario jumps back at the now burned podium and glares at him.

"No way in hell I'll let you have cooked peaches for dessert, Bowser!" Mario growled.

"MAAARIO!" Bowser yelled furiously at his archrival. "Are you seriously trying to start with me again?! I hear about this big meeting, and I'm all ready to act nice… But man, the second I see your face, Mr. Nice Bowser is GONE. Yeah, forget your dumb meeting! And if I can't have cooked peaches, then I'll have lasagna instead!"

Bowser breathes a fireball at Mario, but he dodged it and stomped Bowser on the head two times. After a few more dodging flames and stomps, Mario once again manages to defeat Bowser, who collapses on the floor. Well, looks like he didn't even had lasagna.

"What…happened…" Bowser groaned. "Where are my skills? That was not my 'A' game… I mean, I've lost before, but not THAT easily…"

"You did it again, Mario, buddy!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.

"Hold on, what is that?" Luigi noticed something odd on Bowser.

The group looked closely and noticed a golden star glow surrounding Bowser. They noticed Peach's body emitting a golden aura while next to Starlow.

" _That golden aura around her… I've seen this before!_ " Mario thought with his eyes widened.

"Yes! It was my blessing and Peach's star power! It weakened you, didn't it?!" Starlow grinned.

"Whuh… What…" Bowser mumbled.

"All right! Peach! Let's clean up this mess!" Starlow smirked.

Peach smirked back and she lifts her hand, causing Bowser to rise up from the floor. To the boys' surprise, after a swift arm movement, Peach flings Bowser out of the castle, and he was sent flying through the roof somewhere off in the distance. Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Wario were in utter shock after seeing this and their jaws dropped.

"Whoa…" Yoshi was speechless.

"Explain to me why she doesn't use this ability more often…" Wario stated.

Peach then walks towards Mario, thanking him:

"You've saved me once again. Thank you."

She then gives him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to sigh in love.

"Typical Mario." Luigi rolled his eyes playfully at Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong, in which they nodded in approval.

* * *

…Just where did Bowser fly off?

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **That's the introduction! Quite solid, right? Unlike in the game, I decided to make Mario and his friends arrive earlier than during the meeting so that I can introduce them much more better. Also, this marks the first time I'm adding Donkey Kong and the second time I'm adding Wario in my stories!  
**

 **Did you know that I finished four chapters of this story? Next chapter coming soon! Please review! I'd appreciate it!**


	2. Sucked into Bowser

**Here's the second chapter!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Sucked into Bowser**

Bowser was sent away from the castle and fell into Dimble Wood, a dense forest filled with many trees, rock formations and many Wiggler statues. The name 'Dimble' comes from the word 'Dimple', a small hollow place on the cheek or chin, especially the one that forms when we smile. At the western part of the woods, we can see Bowser lying on the ground unconscious and Kamek was looking down at him.

"Hey!" he shoots out a magic spell at Bowser to try to wake him up. "Hey!" he shoots another one again. "Wake up!" another one was shot, and this time, Bowser finally woke up. "That oughta fix you up."

"Those guys make me so MAD! Gah! It does NOT end like this!" Bowser said frustrated. "I'm going back to that castle and kidnapping Peach for real!"

"Unless…Mario's there, in which case he'll once again kick-"

"DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" Bowser interrupted Kamek by yelling furiously and shooting out flames from his mouth, which burned out the trees in front of him. "Just thinking about it makes me RAGE!"

"Whoa… Chill out…" Kamek said as he mounted on his broom and floated a few feet from the ground before leaving.

"I'll chill nothing! I'm going to Peach's Castle right now!" Bowser settled. He then looks around. "Wait, where am I, anyway?" he questioned while scratching his head. "Nah, whatever. I'll just look around by myself."

He began to explore the woods a bit while punching boulders and burning out trees that blocked his path. Soon, once he arrived at a large clearing with two green pipes, an odd voice shouted:

"A WINNER IS YOU!"

"What? Win what?!" Bowser asked as he walked towards a counter that appears to be a store.

The person hosting the store was a strange creature wearing a gray hooded cloak hiding his face and a pair of swirly-looking glasses.

"JACKPOTTING!" the creature shouted again.

"Your Burliness! What's going on?!" Kamek asked once he came back.

"The customer has luck! And with luckiness comes a tasty Lucky Shroom!" the creature said as he takes out a weird-looking mushroom with green skin, closed eyes and a dark yellow cap with purple spots, making it resemble a Poison Mushroom, who shrinks the user if consumed.

"A Lucky Shroom? I didn't even buy anything! What's this about jackpotting?!" Bowser asked.

"Do not have worries for details! No, do not have the worries! Have the wonderful Lucky Shroom of tastiness instead! Scoff this down and your luck will power up to super luck! Luck enough to beat Mario!"

"Beat Mario?! Seriously?!" Bowser's eyes widened.

"I say to you YES! With every attack, lucky hits will shower in a happy waterfall! You will have such fury! Your strongest enemies will fold like napkins who are crying!"

"Your Beefiness! Dude is WEIRD. Don't eat that thing, seriously." Kamek protested as he backs off.

"What, didn't you hear him? It'll help me beat Mario! Duh!" Bowser replied. He walks back to the creature and demands: "You! Weirdo! Gimme that Lucky Shroom!"

"Oh, yes, of course! ENJOY THE EATING!" the creature exclaimed as he hands Bowser the mushroom.

Bowser then walks a few feet away from the store and eats the mushroom. Just then, he began to feel strange and he held his throat as his face turns red.

"Hurf! BUUURF?!" he gagged.

"What's wrong?! Your Queasiness! I told you not to snack on that thing!" Kamek warned. He turns around to the creature and shouts angrily at him: "Hey! You creepy little weasel! What did you feed Bowser?!"

The creature cackled in a very familiar laugh that only we could remember before removing his disguise. "Such easiness! So easy it gives me the gleeful chortles. I have such strategy! And now for the leaving. You are having a date with Peach's Castle!" he spoke before leaving.

Bowser was still holding on to his throat, with a horrible feeling from the inside, until…

"HAAAARGH!" all of a sudden, a raging vacuum came out of his mouth once he opened it, sucking in everything nearby into his mouth, now much like Kirby when he has his Hypernova ability. Bushes, roots, leaves, rocks, dirt, tree branches and even the two green pipes were sucked into his mouth. Luckily, Kamek managed to fly away before he was also eaten.

Somewhere, unknown to any of the characters that appeared in this scene, a mysterious figure in a black cloak was hiding behind one of the bushes before it got sucked into Bowser's mouth. The figure rushed out of the woods desperately.

* * *

 _ **Back at Peach's Castle…**_

"Well, that's one way to break up a meeting…" Peach said.

"Seems like it's pretty much adjourned, by boogity…" Toadbert observed. "Should we cancel it?"

"Hrm… Young man, we're facing a national emergency." Toadsworth stated. "If we cancel the meeting, nothing will get solved."

"Absolutely. The blorbs are more pressing than Bowser." Peach agreed. "The meeting must go on!"

"Mercy! You ARE the princess! Take heed, gentlemen and star! That's how one does things!"

"Well, of course we can't use this room anymore; it's all wrecked." Mario surveyed the damage.

"How about we continue someplace a touch less demolished?" Yoshi suggested.

"Sounds fine, Yoshi. Let's go."

But then, as they were all leaving the room…

"EEEEEEK!" they heard a shriek coming from the room's entrance. In an instant, a pink-capped female Toad with small blond pigtails and wearing a pink shirt came in rushing into the room in a panic state.

"Huh? Toadiko? What is it?" Peach asked.

"Princess! It's… It's BOWSER! He's coming here!" Toadiko panicked.

"WHAT?!" everyone except Toadiko shouted in shock.

"But… But something is not right with him! He's-… YAAAAAAAAH!"

"HWAAAAAARF!" Toadiko couldn't finish as she was sucked into Bowser's mouth, causing the whole group to gasp in shock.

Eventually, Bowser's suction became stronger, and EVERYONE was sucked into his mouth too!

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" they all screamed as they were sucked in, slowly shrinking down drastically to the size of atoms.

"HWAAAAAARF!" Bowser inhaled more, and laughs in glory for some reason: "GWAHAHA! Gwa ha ha…ah…ha…haaf…" he collapses on the floor exhausted.

"I HAVE VICTORY! Easy as bread sandwiches!" the same creature from the woods came in. "And now for the proceeding with the plan I have planned!" he turns around and calls: "Midbus! Viverna! Come! Fawful calls you!"

"Of course… Lord Fawful…" what appear to be Midbus and Viverna's voices spoke by the room's exit.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Since I didn't include Toadiko and Toadbert in my Partners in Time story, I decided it would be a great idea to include them here!  
**

 **What could of have happened to everyone? Find out in the next chapter! Please review.**


	3. The Trash Pit

**Here's where things get interesting!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Trash Pit**

"WOOOOOAAAAAH!" Mario screamed as he was falling down inside some sort of tunnel.

He fell and fell, until he landed…on a soft spot?

 _ ***RUMBLE…***_

A loud rumble was heard…

 _ ***RUMBLE…***_

…followed up by another one…

 _ ***RUMBLE…***_

…and another…

 _ ***RUUUMBLE!***_

…until it ended with a louder one, which woke Mario up.

"WAH!" he woke up in a startle.

He then looked around at his surroundings: it looked like he was standing in a dark and dank place and his feet was touching on what appears to be flesh. The background was showing many rocks, mushrooms, bushes and other objects stuck in a spider web-like…thing, as well as what appears to be many intestinal villus above. There were also pieces of wood and rocks carved into the flesh Mario was standing on. Ew…

Turns out that our hero is inside his archrival's body. More specifically, he landed in a place called the Trash Pit, which might be located in Bowser's large intestine, since we can see the path probably from the small intestine at the background.

"Where am I? This place looks…nasty." Mario cringed a bit, his voice echoes around the place. Just then, he heard a faint groaning voice:

"Ugh…" it was from Donkey Kong. So that means Mario wasn't alone.

"DK!" Mario runs to him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine…" Donkey Kong stands up. "But where exactly are we, Mario?" he asked as he looks around.

"I'm not sure…" Mario answered. "But we won't find any answers by just standing here."

"You're right. There's a passage for us to go through right there."

They both nodded and went through. At the other side, they caught glimpse of a strange yellow stuff in the ground, and they of course were grossed out by that.

"Geez! This place is getting nastier and nastier every time!" Mario cringed again.

"Yeah, I might be a curious ape, but I'm NOT touching that stuff!" Donkey Kong shook his head.

"Good thing there are platforms above us to cross."

They jumped on the platforms to cross over the yellow stuff and reached to the next area of the Pit. There, they saw something up ahead yelling:

"HEY! LEMME GO!"

They saw that it was Starlow who yelled, but she was engulfed in an amoeba-like thing.

"NOW! RELEASE ME!" she yelled more. "RRRGH! NOT how to treat a lady! YAH! QUIT IT! That…tickles! QUIT IT! NOW!"

"Is that Starlow?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Yes! But how do we get her out of that…squishy thing?" Mario puzzled.

"Just leave it to me!" Donkey Kong grinned and slammed his hands strong enough to create shockwaves at the cell, making it pop, freeing the poor Star Sprite. The duo quickly went to her.

"Oof!" Starlow shook her head to snap out of her dizziness. She then noticed Mario and Donkey Kong. "Mario! DK! You saved me!"

Suddenly, a Goomba-like globule came down from nowhere and cornered the trio by surprise.

"What the heck is that?!" Mario flinched.

"It looks like a Goomba…except egg-yolk shaped." Donkey Kong pointed out.

"Look out! It's about to attack you!" Starlow warned.

This globule-like Goomba, called a Goombule, charged after the duo, but they dodged it. Mario then did his signature Jump Attack at the Goombule and it exploded in watery-like bubbles.

"That's it?" Mario didn't believe that. "Usually it takes me two stomps to defeat a Goomba!"

"Then maybe it's not a regular Goomba?" Donkey Kong guessed.

"Hmm… DK might have a point there." Starlow confirmed.

"How can you tell?" Mario asked.

"I'm pretty sure we're inside Bowser's body."

"WHAT?! Oh, good lord…"

"After Bowser inhaled me, I woke up and wandered around, and then that amoeba thing grabbed me out of the blue."

"Hey, what about the others?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Hm? The others?" Starlow questioned. "I don't know…"

"Great… We're now somehow shrunk in this place and it makes look like a gigantic maze…" Mario sighed.

"Shrunk?" Donkey Kong raised an eyebrow.

"Of course we are shrunk, DK! For everything in here to look huge like that, we'll have to be in the size of an atom!"

"Well, I bet everyone else is in here somewhere, but…" Starlow said. "Right now I have no clue where anyone is…"

"Hmm… Who knows how in the world THAT happened, but one thing's for sure… If we don't find the others soon, we're all in BIG trouble!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.

"Whatever the case, we better press on. Who knows we'll find someone nearby?" Mario suggested.

"You have a point. Let's go." Starlow finished as they pressed on.

* * *

They encountered more Goombules as they moved on. Soon, they reached an area where Mario saw a familiar face up ahead that made him gasp in shock:

" ***gasp*** Luigi!"

They saw the man in green hung by a nasty pink tentacle thing with his face covered by the same cell-like thing that engulfed Starlow.

"Oooooooh…" Luigi moaned.

"Hey! Luigi, why are you goofing off up there?!" Starlow questioned. Another moan from Luigi came in response.

"Don't worry, mate! We'll help you!" Donkey Kong assured as he helps Mario climb on his hands and lifts him up to Luigi. Mario then grabs his legs and manages to pull him down, unknown that the pink stuff's remains have created two deformed Goombules.

"Luigi! You're okay!" Mario exclaimed. But Luigi still didn't wake up. "Hey! Wake up, Luigi!"

"Eh?" Luigi opened his eyes and stood up. He turns around and notices his big brother. "MAAAARIO! I WAS SO WORRIED THAT I'D BE ALONE!" Luigi bursts into waterfall tears as he hugs Mario while kneeled on the ground and crying on his shoulder.

Mario, being the big brother, returned the hug and gently rubs Luigi's back to make him feel that he's close. "There, there, my little bro. I'm here." He spoke in a soft tone.

But their moment would cut short when the two Goombules materialized from the remains, in which Donkey Kong noticed.

"Hey, mates… Sorry to interrupt your moment but we've got trouble in here!" Donkey Kong warned.

The brothers pulled away from the hug and glared at the two Goombules.

"Mario! Luigi! Stomp 'em!" Starlow said.

The brothers stomped on each Goombule and they exploded.

"Really? Dying in one hit?" Luigi was confused.

"That's because those Goombas were globules." Mario told him.

"Globules? Wait, don't tell me…"

"Yep. We're inside Bowser's body."

"OH. DEAR. GOD… Mario… You just predicted the future!"

* * *

 _ **Flashback (Partners in Time story, chapter 8):**_

" _Well that's a first, getting eaten by a monstrous Yoshi." Tails said._

" _Yeah, but what's next? Getting eaten by Bowser?" Mario questioned._

" _Oh, hell no!_ _ ***sigh***_ _good lord, Mario… Don't give any funny ideas when we get back home." Luigi glared at him._

 _ **End of Flashback**_

* * *

"That was just a joke! I would never predict something like that! I'm pretty sure that it was just pure coincidence!" Mario said.

"Were you mates talking about your last adventure where you traveled through time?" Donkey Kong guessed. The brothers nodded.

"Phew…" Starlow flew forward, accidentally knocking Luigi down in the process. That didn't make him too happy:

"HEY! Watch it!" he got up and yelled angrily at Starlow. She didn't notice that and continued:

"Even inside Bowser's body there are enemies to fight." She then looks down at the angered Luigi. "Hey, Luigi!"

"Eh? What?" he questioned normally, but still a bit angered.

"Have you seen Princess Peach and the others anywhere?" Starlow asked.

"Sorry, but I haven't." Luigi shook his head.

"Hm… Not you either, huh…"

"Looks like they'll be tough to track down… Especially in a place like this." Mario stated as he looks around.

"Well, let's go ahead and try to look for Princess Peach!" Starlow said.

"And our mates." Donkey Kong added.

Everyone nodded and went on ahead. They overcame many obstacles and more Goombules to fight. Later, after riding an elevator, they noticed a crate with a hammer symbol on it, as well as large crates blocking a path.

"Wow, looks like Bowser inhaled all kinds of junk, huh?" Starlow said.

"Yeah, no doubt about it." Donkey Kong agreed.

"Hey! Look at this crate!" Mario walked towards the crate with the hammer symbol. "Luigi, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he turned to Luigi.

"Yup, this crate definitely holds our gifted hammers." Luigi concluded.

"Gifted hammers?" Starlow raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah! Luigi and I received those hammers as gifts from our younger selves after that adventure!" Mario explained.

"Oh, I see…"

"Now if only we could break it open…" Luigi inspected the crate.

"I got this!" Donkey Kong smashed the crate with his fists, freeing the hammers.

"Wow! Nice job, DK!" Mario complimented.

"No problem, mates!" Donkey Kong replied.

With that, Mario and Luigi picked up the hammers on the ground.

" _Thanks again, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi for handing them to us!_ " Mario thought happily.

Now with the hammers back, the brothers were able to break the crates up ahead and move on.

* * *

After solving puzzles involving hammers and beating two new enemies; Elite Goombules and Spike Blops, the group finally got out of the Trash Pit. They found another area up ahead and decided to check it out.

They have entered an area called Toad Square, located somewhere near Bowser's diaphragm and heart where some Toads have established item and equipment shops and a healing drink stand. This area was filled with blue mushroom-like platforms and more of that yellow stuff at the very bottom, which is confirmed to be mucus.

"Finally we made it out of that messed-up area!" Starlow exclaimed.

"Thank god! I was getting grossed out by all of that!" Luigi sighed in relief. "Except we probably won't see the light of the day until we find a way to get out…"

"Yeah… I'm kinda missing the daylight right now." Donkey Kong lamented.

Soon, none other than Toadiko noticed the group coming inside the square and turned around.

"Mario! Luigi! DK! Starlow!" she exclaimed. "You guys also got inhaled!"

"Toadiko!" the group exclaimed back in unison.

"That's kind of a relief! With you guys in here, we might actually have a shot." Toadiko said.

"Toadiko, have you seen the others?" Donkey Kong asked.

"What? All of the others?" Toadiko tilted her head. She then responded: "Well, for your friends, I'm not sure, but I think all the Toads Bowser inhaled including me are gathered here…"

"Really?" Mario was surprised.

"Yup!" a Toad came next to Toadiko while nodding. "Folks are doing what they can. Y'know, scavenging stuff from inside Bowser, opening shops…Problem is, this isn't exactly a high-traffic shopping zone."

The group became speechless and looked at each other. Donkey Kong interfered:

"Of course it isn't; there is barely any population in here. Bowser would have have to inhale EVERY Toad in order to make this work."

"DK has a point." Mario pointed out.

"Everyone got pretty antsy, sitting around doing nothing…" the Toad continued. "Opening up these shops was a nice diversion, y'know? So c'mon, you guys, give us a lift and buy something, huh? Me, I'm gonna go scout around and see if I can't find some more useful stuff." He then leaves.

"We'll be glad to do some shopping in here. Glad that I found some coins that Bowser also inhaled scattered around that place!" Mario remarked.

"Plus, this place looks like it's the safest one, by far. Maybe if we want to take a break, we could gather back here." Luigi suggested.

"I agree with you, Luigi." Donkey Kong agreed.

"You guys can take your time and look around." Toadiko smiled. "Also, Bowser is still asleep, right? I saw a location right next to this square that leads to Bowser's major nerve."

The heroes went to each shop to buy some supplies. After they were done, they followed Toadiko's advice and went into the next location.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Next chapter coming by tomorrow! Please review.  
**


	4. The Windy Cavi Cape

**Something rather different in comparison with the main game will happen here!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Windy Cavi Cape**

The area they went in was the Funny Bone, located probably in Bowser's spinal cord. The ground was mostly bones and nerves, possibly the bones from the vertebral column. Because our heroes were so small, we could even see the spongy bone tissue in these bones.

"This place…" Starlow pondered, until something came into her mind and she told them: "Will you wait a moment?"

"Huh?" Mario was confused. Starlow flew up ahead and she caught glimpse of something:

"What the… This can't be… Yeah! It must be!" she then came back.

"It must be what?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Sorry for the wait. I found something up ahead that bugs me." Starlow answered.

"Really?" the heroes were surprised.

"It's faster to show you than to bother explaining. Head in there!"

"Mmhm." Mario nodded.

The group went on ahead, and they came upon a large yellow Nubbin at the end, connected to Bowser's major nerve.

"This! This is the thing!" Starlow exclaimed. "This sticking-out part seems to be connected to Bowser's major nerve. If we can stimulate this thing, we might be able to wake up Bowser…"

"Just leave it to me." Mario approaches the Nubbin and takes out his hammer. "Sorry, Bowser. This is going to hurt."

He hits the Nubbin with his hammer, and eventually, a nervous reaction happened and Bowser felt like he was electrocuted:

"WOWCH!"

This ended up waking Bowser. He gets up and looks around. Then, Mario hits the Nubbin again.

"YAAAARGH!" Bowser screamed in pain again. "Whoa, what did I eat?! That's some serious pain going on down there!" Mario once again hits the Nubbin. "YAAAARGH!"

"I could do this all day." Mario grinned.

"Mario, that's enough." Luigi said sternly. "He's already up."

"Fine…" Mario pouted.

"HEY! HEAR ME?" Starlow shouted as loud as she could to call Bowser's attention.

"What the—HEY! Is somebody there?!" Bowser searched left and right. Nothing. "Who is that?! Where am I?!"

"Don't bother looking! We're actually down here! Inside your body!" Donkey Kong interfered.

"You gotta be kidding! It's in my BODY?!" Bowser said in unbelief. That is, until he remembered the voice he just heard. "Hold on! Did I just hear that oversized ape's voice?!"

"Uh oh…" Donkey Kong sweatdropped.

"Way for you to open up your big mouth, DK…" Mario rolled his eyes.

"Yeah…" Luigi threw in.

"…A-And Mario and Green 'Stache's voices too?!" Bowser added once he heard Mario and Luigi's voices echoing inside his body.

"Oops…" Luigi flinched.

"Does that mean Mario, Green 'Stache, that oversized ape, Peach…and everyone else I can't think of at the moment are inside my body?!" Bowser questioned, but then smirked: "HA! This is awesome! But I am NOT liking the idea you guys are walking INSIDE OF MY BODY!" he yelled while looking down at his stomach.

"Don't you remember? At Peach's Castle…?" Starlow asked.

"Peach's Castle? Hmm…" Bowser pondered. "Mario pounded me at Peach's… I got chucked into a forest… I ate a weird mushroom from some weirdo in the forest… And I just started inhaling everything. That's all I remember."

"So that's how it happened…" Starlow confirmed.

"Now look at you, losers! Partying in my body like you own it. How dare you?!" Bowser growled.

"It's not our fault! YOU were the one who sucked us in!" Mario growled back. "Plus, we were trying to wake you up!"

"Hmph! Very funny, Mario!" Bowser scoffed. "Wait… WHY AM I EVEN TALKING TO YOU?!"

"Look, Bowser, I also hate you as much as you hate me, but don't you have an even bigger problem to take care of?" Mario said sternly while folding his arms.

"Yeah!" Starlow threw in.

"Hey, wait! You! I've heard your voice before…" Bowser suspected.

"Maybe I should explain who I am later…" Starlow sweatdropped. "It's a long story…"

"Whoa, hold it! Long? I hate boring stories…"

"Ugh… Now what should we do?" Mario asked.

"Maybe it's best for us to join forces with Bowser until we figure out this blorb situation." Starlow answered.

"SAY WHAT?!"

"WHAT?! You're saying I have to team up with Mario?!" Bowser yelled in shock. "Ugh, what a nightmare…" he muttered.

"Same to you." Mario muttered, still not liking the idea to team up with his own archenemy.

"Please, get over it, you two…" Starlow said coyly. "After all, we're all stuck here. We don't have another choice."

"Fine…" Mario and Bowser grumbled at the same time.

"Good." Starlow nodded. She then flew up and said to Bowser: "Now listen, to change the subject, uh, where are you right now?"

"Oh yeah, right! Where am I?" Bowser questioned to himself before looking at his surroundings.

He seemed to be located in some sort of cave with deep pink walls and purple ground, filled with many boulders and stalagmites.

"Kind of a dim, dank cave." Bowser responded.

"A cave?" Luigi tilted his head.

"Yeah… What in the world am I doing in a dim, dank cave?!"

"Maybe you were sleepwalking." Donkey Kong guessed.

"I don't sleep walk, oversized ape!" Bowser replied sternly. "If I did, I'd kidnap Peach in my sleep, but I don't."

"I'd return Peach and destroy you in my sleep…" Mario muttered.

"I heard that, Mario! And remember, I'm just being nice now just because that other unknown person forced us to work together, but once you get out of me, I swear I WILL beat you in person!" Bowser growled.

"We'll see about that!" Mario growled back. "Now back to the main thing, aren't you supposed to find a way out of that cave?"

"Hrmph! I was gonna do that anyway, genius!" Bowser scolded.

"Let's let Bowser do his thing for a while." Starlow told.

"Alright." Mario nodded as Bowser began to move on.

* * *

After punching through boulders blocking his path, Bowser soon came upon some dead trees blocking the way out of the cave.

"Look at this flimsy thing! Time for some burnage!" Bowser exclaimed. He opens his mouth, ready to breathe fire and…nothing happened. "Wait, what happened? HEY! Why did no flames come out?!"

" _You're saying that you cannot breathe fire? That's odd."_ Mario said from inside Bowser.

"Huh, yeah, right! You probably messed something up in there!"

" _We did NOTHING! We woke up like…FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO, and we're nowhere NEAR your flame pipe!"_

"Hey, jerky, I never had any trouble until you got in there! I was a burning MACHINE! And now you broke me! SO FIRE ME BACK UP!"

" _Now, just hang on a sec!"_ Starlow interfered. _"What would we have to gain by disabling your flame system?"_

"Do I look like I need logic? Listen, I NEED to breathe fire!" Bowser insisted.

" _I'm sure you do! And we're also sure we didn't disable it! So have a good time trying to fight back without your fire and all. YELLO GOOD-BYE!"_

"Hey! HEY! GRAAAARGH! This is complete garbage! I've gotta get my fire back!" Bowser growled, and then sighed. "Guess I better take the long way then…"

* * *

Later on, he managed to get out of the cave. Where was he, anyway? He was in Cavi Cape; a cape filled with plains in brown and green in color and is filled with many dead trees. Not sure about the origin of the name 'Cavi', but its other names in different languages are derived from 'burp' and 'belch'.

As soon as he was outside, he spotted someone at the distance hovering on a platform. That someone was actually Fawful and he went close to Bowser and was now hovering a few feet from the ground.

"Hey! Hold up! Quit hovering!" Bowser hissed.

"What is your surprise face? Was there forgetting about me?" Fawful teased.

"Wait, I know you! You're the weirdo who tricked me into eating that mushroom!"

"You are the one who is correct! Wasn't it full of delicious?! Such a special treat called a Vacuum Shroom! I, Fawful, invented it to make you inhale everything you see! And I, Fawful, am betting that you are remembering nothing. You inhaled like a hungry syrup pig at the free pancake buffet. And then you had the napping. And then I put you in the cave!"

"WHAAAAT?!" Bowser roared. "What's your problem, pal? What's your beef with me?"

"Beef? I am lacking in beef. Fawful is beefless. But I am having a goal! MUSHROOM KINGDOM… WILL BE MINE!"

"Huh?!"

"All of Mushroom Kingdom spread for Fawful like power brunch! First, the appetizer of making Toads round with blorbs! Then, the side order of using Vacuum-Shroomed Bowser! Fawful is gorging on his plan of win! And still he has hunger!"

"You're nuts!"

"No hunger for nuts. Just to conquer Mushroom Kingdom… First, the emptying of the castle of Peach! AND THEN! Andthenandthenandthenandthenandthen! The castles of Bowser and Melissa for me! I will be powering them up into the castles of Fawful!"

"Whoa, hold up, champ! What about my castle?!"

* * *

 _ **At Bowser's Castle…**_

Some Fawful-like UFOs invaded the castle and shot out lasers, knocking down towers, minions, windows, doors and walls. It seems that Bowser's Castle is being destroyed…

* * *

 _ **Back at Cavi Cape…**_

"Pffffft. Please! Get over yourself!" Bowser scoffed. "My castle's gonna be just fine, pal."

"Hmm… We will be seeing…" Fawful smirked. "Anyway, I thought you would be sleeping long, like a lazy bear. And I am thinking you should be sleeping more! COME! MIDBUS AND VIVERNA!" he then left.

"Hey! HEY! COME BACK! I'm not done with you!" Bowser yelled, but Fawful was already gone.

He rushed after the Beanish genius, until someone stopped him and he was pushed backwards. Who did that was a large pig-like creature who appears to be a combination of a boar and an armadillo with a pink body, a yellow shell and black horns, spikes and fangs. He was probably Midbus.

Soon, at the side of Midbus came in a fairy with the appearance of a 20 year old woman with white transparent wings, an oval face, green skin, pink eyes with black eyeshadow, dark red lips and long straight black hair that reached below her waist. Her outfit is a top and a miniskirt both made out of leaves that turned dry on the bottom. She was barefoot, had vines wrapped on her left arm and her legs, a shoulder-length necklace made out of rose thorns, and a hairpiece made out of leaves fixed in a golden hairclip. She also often carries a black rose with her. She was Viverna, an evil fairy with the power to manipulate dangerous plants of all sorts, mostly the poisonous ones. So she pretty much possesses the same powers as Poison Ivy.

"HRRRGH!" Midbus snarled. "You. No longer needed. Here, you taste defeat."

"Hm. I'm going with Midbus all the way." Viverna smirked.

"Taste defeat? You're gonna taste my fist, you little piglet and insect!" Bowser growled.

"Taste your fist? Ha ha. I think not. I HAVE NO TASTE!" Midbus mocked.

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"Ah ah ah. Sense is for the weak!" Viverna teased. "You listen, big baby, Peach is no more. Lord Fawful is the new ruler! So we have no need for you. Lord Fawful wants sweet dreams to you!"

"Yeah. NOW YOU SLEEP!" Midbus shouted.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Bowser yelled. "What is WRONG with you?! Nothing you say makes sense! And now you made me mad! And once I get mad, I need to punch something! C'MERE!"

"If you say so! Come here, my babies!" Viverna summons dozens of vines around her and sends them to strap Bowser's arms.

"GRAAAARGH!" Bowser roared, as he broke free from the vines with all of his might. "Taste my punch, woman!" he delivers a powerful punch at Viverna.

"UGH!" she groaned from the impact. "Midbus! Get him!"

Midbus curls into a ball and rolls towards Bowser, but he countered with his punch, sending Midbus back at Viverna, knocking her out.

"Viverna!" Midbus cried out. "Guess I have deal by myself."

"Not so fast!" Bowser came in while charging his punch. He punches Midbus, sending him sliding backwards a few feet away from Bowser.

Midbus came back and does a body slam at Bowser, and suddenly the Koopa King started to feel weird:

"Haah… Gaah… Haaah… That weird mushroom is making me feel cruddy… Can't win like this…" he then collapses from exhaustion.

"Muh muh muh." Midbus teased. "You are weak. Most weak."

"What… How…" Bowser groaned.

"It does not end here. Work on your skills. Come, Viverna."

"Yes, Midbus." Viverna recovered from the knockout and she and Midbus left.

Bowser slowly stands up and calls to the heroes inside his body:

"Hey! You all in the gut! Are you listening?!"

" _Of course we can hear you, duh!"_ Mario sassed.

"Shut up. Anyway, did you all catch of what happened?"

" _We did! Sounds like Fawful is taking over!"_ Starlow said.

"I'm heading for my castle!"

" _What? Why to your castle?! I don't think that's a good idea!"_ Luigi protested.

" _Yeah! You should go to Peach's Castle instead!"_ Donkey Kong suggested. _"We really HAVE to go to Peach's Castle!"_

"What am I, a taxi? Want a coffee too? Maybe a massage? Look, my castle's in danger!"

" _So is Peach's Castle!"_ Mario added.

"Whatever! We gotta head to MY castle right now! That weirdo can't have it!"

"… _OK, we understand. Do as you must."_ Starlow sighed in defeat.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Great, he's much worried about his castle than Peach's Castle as always…" Mario rolled his eyes.

"Well, there's nothing we can do right now…but Bowser's in bad shape." Starlow told. "It's possible some changes will take place in his body…"

"Where did you get this point?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Um… I'm not sure, but we better keep our eyes opened."

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

Bowser ventured on the plains, fighting Chuboombas on the way. He then spotted a sign showing Blubble Lake to the north and Plack Beach to the east. Since there was no way to head north, Bowser took the path to Plack Beach instead, hoping that's the way back to his castle.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Now that's something rather different! Unlike in the game, where Bowser is completely unaware of Mario and Luigi being inside his body, I decided to make the opposite of it so that not only will make the storyline quite interesting, but also to incorporate better the meaning of my story's title, The Star Children. After all, who doesn't want to see Bowser once again teaming up with the heroes for real? Boy, will Mario and Bowser EVER learn to get along just for once? ;)  
**

 **For the first time in my stories, the other OC I'm adding is a villain! It's the fairy of poison, Viverna! Don't worry; I'll make sure to add a backstory for her at a much later chapter so that it won't make it look like she just appeared out of nowhere.**

 **What will happen next? Find out in the next chapter! Please review.**


	5. The Dental Plack Beach

**Next chapter here!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: The Dental Plack Beach**

The Plack Beach is a beach located at southwestern corner of the Mushroom Kingdom. At first, it seemed like a natural beach, but further on we can see tooth-like structures with gray chips in them bordering the area, and these chips give a plaque-like impression, hence its area's name; 'plack' comes from plaque, a sticky clear film composed almost entirely of bacteria, that can cause tooth decay.

"Man, I didn't know this kingdom HAD this kind of beach. I really need to check out the kingdom more…" Bowser muttered as he walks across the sand.

Everything in this beach REALLY was dental-related because there were enemies that are based of this category, like Chuboombas, Toothies and Drillbit Crabs, the latter possibly referencing a dentist drill.

Bowser had to navigate the beach by going on rafts and punching the walls to move it across the water. Once he reached the other side of the shore, he heard a voice calling for him:

"Allô!"

Bowser wondered who called to him and he moved forward where he spotted a rope on the sand. The voice called for him again:

"Ah! Allô over zere! Monsieur Turtle Bits!"

Bowser turned to the right and saw a block guy standing on a faraway island connected to the rope.

"Ah, sweet monsieur! 'Elp me! I need 'elp! Helpez-moi, s'il vous plaît!" the block guy called more.

"Huh? What language is that? And what are you doing there?" Bowser asked.

"Ah! Bonjour! Why are you… Non! I am too rude! I am Broque Monsieur! I ask zat you look upon zis! I was cleaning zee collection, but… Disaster, it struck moi! Zee bridge to zee beach, it fell into zee water!" Broque Monsieur explained and showed the pieces of wood floating in the water. "Monsieur! You 'ave zee odor of a gentleman! Ah, oui! It wafts! And a gentleman 'elps zee needy! Surely you 'ave zis credo, oui?"

"BAH HA HA! Whatever you're smelling isn't me, pal! I don't do charity! I'm too busy for this!" Bowser scolded and was about to leave until Broque Monsieur stopped him:

"STOP, I AM BEGGING YOU! Good Monsieur Turtle Bits! You who I am not smelling!"

"Enough with the yelling! Why would I help you?"

"But 'ow can you say zis thing? You 'ave very much to gain! I will give you zee gratitudes!"

"What? Gratitudes?"

"Ah! You interest, it piques? Zis is wonderful! Marvelous! Oui, a hot block spirit dwells in you, Monsieur Turtle Bits! A blazing, fiery block spirit… Oui. You 'ave zee power…" Broque Monsieur takes out a green block with a tornado printed on it. "Look upon zis! How is zis for gratitudes, honh? I give you zis glorious thing! Zee hot block spirit cries out from your belly, and it cries for zis block! It is born for you!"

"What is wrong with you… It's just a stupid block!"

"Ah! Your tongue, bite upon it! Zis block is magnifique! Do not utter one ill word to zis block! Zee block collectors, zey pay one million coins for zis, honh? It is so very rare, oui! You will know zis if you use it! Oui, you will be in for zee big surprises, Monsieur Turtle Bits!"

"Hmmm… Surprises, huh… Fine… What do I do?"

"Ah! Thank you! Merci! You are a gentleman, après all! Look upon zis! Zis petit island, it is floating in zee ocean. A surprise to you, non? You see zis rope on zee beach? If you are to pull on zis, you will movez zee entire island!"

"Pbbth! Just pull on the rope? Gimme a challenge, pal!" Bowser then walks to the rope and begins to pull it. "Have a taste of Bowser power!"

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, inside Bowser…**_

"Hey, do you feel something?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Something's happening to Bowser's arm!" Starlow exclaimed. "We should head there!"

Everyone nodded and went to the new location called the Arm Center, located in Bowser's arm muscle. The ground is composed of skeletal muscle, and we could even see the cells' nucleolus, there were some arm bones on the entrance's ceiling, and the background is probably showing more muscle cells.

The group walked forward until they spotted a large red muscle attached to its tendons doing some contractions.

"This is Bowser's arm muscle… It's reacting somehow!" Starlow said. "He must be carrying something or trying to pull something…"

"What's this cannon, anyway?" Luigi directed to a cannon positioned a few feet away from the muscle.

"There is a switch on it, though." Mario pointed out.

"I'll try hitting it and see what happens."

Luigi took out his hammer and pounded the switch. Eventually, the cannon shot out a blue sparky orb that turned red once it hit the muscle and was heading towards Mario.

"Mario! Look out!" Starlow warned.

Acting fast, Mario swings his hammer at the sparky orb and it flew towards the muscle, causing it to enlarge.

"What the?!" Mario flinched.

"Whoa! Feels like I just got a power boost!"they heard Bowser's voice.

"Did the muscle just enlarge?" Luigi asked.

Then, the cannon fired two sparky orbs, but once they hit the muscle, they turned green instead before heading to Luigi.

"Uh oh!" Luigi quickly hammered the two orbs at the muscle, causing it to enlarge more.

"HAAAAARGH!"they heard Bowser yelling for power.

"I think that stimulated Bowser's muscles! They're getting huge!" Starlow confirmed. "Hey! Try hitting some more of those light balls!"

The brothers continued this minigame, with Mario hammering the red orbs and Luigi hammering the green orbs, until the muscle got so large that it was even touching its tendons.

In an instant, Bowser had so much strength that not only he managed to pull the entire island, but also sent Broque Monsieur flying off as well.

"I get it now… If we stimulate Bowser's body like just now… He appears to manifest some sort of extreme strength…" Starlow concluded.

"Haah… Haah…" Bowser panted. "OH YEAH! FEEL IT!"

" _You should thank the Mario Bros for stimulating your muscles!"_ Donkey Kong exclaimed from inside Bowser.

"Huh?!"

" _DK!"_ Mario and Luigi shouted angrily at Donkey Kong.

"Are you telling me that Mario and Green 'Stache were the ones who helped me to pull this island?!"

" _Yeah, because of DK spitting out to you, we'll have to admit that we did that, actually."_ Mario sassed.

"Hmph… You know, I hate to admit it, but… You both did a pretty well job in there…" Bowser muttered.

" _Wait, what?! Do you mean-…"_

"Hmmmm, strange… Zee world, it appears to be upside down…" Mario was interrupted by Broque Monsieur, who was lying upside down on the sand. "But zat is no matter. You 'elped me, and for zis I salute you!"

"Enough blabbing, buddy! Make with the surprise block!" Bowser said impatiently.

"Ah, but of course! Zee block! From moi! Such a fine block! We sing the song of block! Pour vous!" Broque Monsieur hands Bowser the block. However, Bowser wasn't satisfied with that:

"This is just a normal block! No surprise! What gives?!"

"Your tongue, bite upon it! Non! Zat LOOKS like a normal block! Zat is what is so devious about my little block. So devious! Zis is actually a Vacuum Block. You use zis block, and you inhale whatever lies before you! Say you use zis in battle, honh? Ah! What is zis?! You inhale zee enemy with bravado! Très bien!"

"Whoa, whoa, INHALE an enemy?! I can do that in a battle?"

"Ah, but of course, it is simple! Come, let us try zis out!"

Broque Monsieur flips his head and Bowser uses the Vacuum Block to inhale Broque Monsieur inside of him, where Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong and Starlow were. After leaving Bowser's body, Broque Monsieur battles against Bowser.

Once Broque Monsieur was defeated, he flips his head back and says:

"Ah, how was zis? Nice, honh? Zee magnificent Vacuum Block! Zee color! Zee gloss! Zee feel! We are not worthy of zis block! Who dares say zis is not so? And you, Monsieur Turtle Bits, you become a block collector after seeing zis block, oui? Alors, let us meet again, honh? Until zen, good-byes to you!" he then leaves.

"What a weirdo…" Bowser muttered.

" _Oh, come on, Bowser! After all, you did get something quite useful, right?"_ Starlow said.

"Well, inhaling enemies is kinda of awesome, but I'd rather take them down by myself instead of you guys helping out."

" _I KNEW you would say that…"_ Mario facepalmed. _"Just get a move on!"_

"Fine!"

Bowser continued forward, heading north since that was the way to his castle.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

Bowser came upon a fountain-like statue with a Blooper on a wide area.

"Hey! What's this thing? It's some weird statue!" Bowser said.

" _A weird statue on the beach… Might be the Sea Pipe Statue…"_ Starlow guessed.

"The Sea Pipe Statue? Sounds dumb. What is it?"

" _A statue honoring a hero of the sea."_

"Ah, a hero, huh? So that means… I'm the model!" Bowser exclaimed. He then turns to the statue and yells: "HEY! IT'S UGLY!" he continuously punches the statue.

" _Wait! Wait! No violence!"_ Starlow called out.

"Hmph! My eyes are much more manly than that!"

All of a sudden, the statue began to wiggle, catching Bowser by surprise:

"Whoa! This thing is moving!"

" _What?! It's moving? That's not possible!"_ Starlow said in unbelief.

Just then, the statue stops moving. Then, it gained colors and its pipes stretched out of its main body and began to flail them around.

"Hey! What's the story with this crazy statue? It's going nuts!" Bowser questioned.

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" Fawful's yell was heard.

A small UFO with Fawful's head came down and spoke:

"It is I who added the nuts to that statue!"

"That voice!" Bowser suspected.

" _Of course it had to be him!"_ Mario growled.

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" Fawful laughed. "Your plan that I laugh at now makes for more laughing! You are wanting your castle? You are not getting there!"

"Oh, YES I AM!" Bowser yelled angrily. "Look, pal, I can tell you wanna fight, but I'm in no mood. Take me to my castle right now!"

"You have the impatience… You must stop and sample the sprinklies in life's salad bar. I say no to your rushing! Time instead for some playing with a Fawfulized statue!" the UFO leaves.

" _Looks like we have no choice. Let's deal with that statue!"_ Donkey Kong demanded.

"GWAHAHAHA!" Bowser laughed. "Aw, I was all fired up to let Fawful have it! I'll take you instead!"

The Stone Blooper went inside one of the pipes and was launched towards Bowser, but he countered it with his punch. Bowser then walked towards the statue and delivers a punch, but that didn't do any damage!

"What?! How come it did nothing?!" Bowser didn't believe that.

" _Hey! Try using that Vacuum Block thing and see what happens!"_ Starlow called out.

"Oh, right! Let's see how it'll turn out!"

Bowser uses the Vacuum Block and inhales the statue. Only the Stone Blooper was sucked in, landing next to the heroes.

"All right! Let's take it out!" Mario told everyone.

The Mario Bros whacked the Stone Blooper with their hammers, followed up by Donkey Kong's Giant Punch. After that, the Stone Blooper dung into the ground and starts drilling it, causing Bowser to feel pain:

"HUH?! GRAAAAAARGH!"

"This Stone Blooper is damaging Bowser!" Starlow cried out.

"Oh no, you don't!" Donkey Kong grabbed the Stone Blooper with his hands and threw it at the ground with great strength. They noticed that the Stone Blooper turned red.

"I have an idea! Let's deal more damage to it with this!" Mario pulls out a Green Shell.

"Yeah! A Green Shell!" Luigi exclaimed.

Mario kicks the shell at the Stone Blooper and it bounced off of it while heading to Luigi. Luigi kicks it back, doing more damage to the Stone Blooper. The Bros continued the rally until the now cracked Stone Blooper flew out of Bowser's body, causing Bowser to spit it out. The Stone Blooper flew face-first into the statue.

"Heh, you're in big trouble now." Bowser smirked as he walks to the Stone Blooper and does one final punch at it.

The Stone Blooper shattered into debris as the statue turns back to normal.

"BWAHAHA!" Bowser laughed. "He seriously thought he could stop Bowser with this toy?"

" _Show off…_ " Mario thought while rolling his eyes.

Suddenly, some dry trees popped up from nowhere in front of Bowser.

"Bah!" Bowser muttered. Then, the Sea Pipe Statue began to wiggle again. "Again?!"

This time, water came out from the two pipes like two small waterfalls.

"What's with this water?" Bowser questioned. "…Actually, I am kinda thirsty." He walked to the left side of the statue and drank some water.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser, at Toad Square…**_

"I can hear a waterfall coming from somewhere, or is it just me?" Luigi asked.

"Nope, we can hear it too." Mario said.

"That means something is happening in his body again! Let's go and check it out!" Starlow told them.

"Hey!" Toadiko called them. "One of the Toads told me that he saw some people inside the area just north of here!"

"Really? Sweet! Another reason for us to check that other area out!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.

"I wish you luck!"

The heroes hurried up and went into the newly opened area of Bowser's body. But what they'll find is a bit more…fishy than before.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **At first, I was disgusted with Plack Beach's look, but then I found the concept pretty good, since it applies to most of the area names from this game (all of the areas except for the castles and Toad Town are named after human body-related topics).  
**

 **Will our heroes find one of their friends in the next area of Bowser's body? Find out later! Please review.**


	6. The Pump Works and Flame Pipe

**So sorry for the long wait! Been too busy with collage work...**

 **Anyways, enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The Pump Works and Flame Pipe**

The new opened area was called the Pump Works, located somewhere in Bowser's esophagus. It shows a blue background, possibly showing the bones from the cervical vertebrae, and the ground is deep pink, which could be the esophagus' muscles. As soon as the group went in, water began to fill the entire area.

"Whoa! What the-?!" Mario didn't see that coming.

In an instant, the whole area was flooded. Thankfully, they could all breathe underwater. The flooding of this area also caused a Thwomp-like bone to float up, opening the passage up ahead.

"Look! Over there!" Starlow pointed. "The wall that blocked the way! The water made it float up! Let's swim over and look!"

The trio nodded and swam up. Back outside, Bowser started to get full from drinking too much water and stepped back from the statue.

"Bloooooooorg… I feel all…sloshy." He gagged. "I think I drank too much…"

At the same time, once the group swam past the Bone Thwomp, all of the water began to drain out. This caused the Bone Thwomp to fall back down.

"…Oh, I get it. When Bowser drinks, the water flows down into his belly. But when he stops, the water level drops back down." Starlow concluded.

"Hmm… Do you think Peach or another of our friends might be up ahead?" Mario asked.

"…You may be right, mate. Let's press on and keep our eyes peeled." Donkey Kong replied.

"Of course, to do that, we're going to need Bowser's cooperation." Luigi pointed out. "HEY!" he called for Bowser.

"What?" Bowser responded.

"Can you, uh… drink some more water for us?"

"What? No! Why?"

"Uh… Um…"

"Your body's in rough shape. There's like…filth and crust! Water might wash it out?" Starlow interfered.

"What? Filth? CRUST?!" Bowser's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah!"

"And you all… You think you can fix me up in there?"

"Of course!"

"You can get my flame back?!"

"Not what we had in mind, but definitely!"

"YOU CAN MAKE ME BETTER THAN MARIO?!"

"SAY WHAT?!" Mario yelled in shock and anger.

"Oh… I take that back… Hmph." Bowser muttered at the last sentence.

"If I hear something like this from you again, I swear…" Mario muttered back, shaking his fist angrily.

"Okay! Fine! I won't anymore!" Bowser shouted. " _Stupid Mario…_ " he thought before saying: "Anyway, since you'll help me get my fire back… It's a deal! If you're for real, I'll drink as much as you want!" he stepped forward to the statue and drank more water.

As expected, the whole Pump Works flooded again.

"Phew… THAT was close…" Luigi sighed in relief.

"No kidding…" Mario rolled his eyes, still mad about what Bowser said earlier.

"Don't be mad like that. Bowser's still not used to working together with us. Let's just hope he gets used to it sooner." Starlow hoped.

"Yeah. For now on, we should move." Donkey Kong said.

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

After a long time hitting floating blocks, encountering enemies like Dried Bloopers/Bubble Bloopers, and Protobatters, which could reference proteins, with Chombones as obstacles, the heroes dropped down to a ledge once Bowser stopped drinking water, where they spotted two familiar faces up ahead.

"Hey! It's Toadsworth and Toadbert!" Mario exclaimed as they rushed to them. However, the two were trapped behind a barrier.

"Oh! Masters Mario, Luigi and DK! You're hale and hearty!" Toadsworth exclaimed.

"You're actually here, by boogity!" Toadbert said.

"So you were inhaled too?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Yeah, Bowser inhaled us too. With almost the whole castle." Toadbert told.

"Golly…" Luigi's eyes widened. "So he definitely wasn't feeling well back then."

"Totally. I'm happy we met up, but not happy we're here, of course."

"After that great lout inhaled us, we awoke a bit addlepated." Toadsworth explained. "We walked hither and thither, and now we've become quite stuck!"

"We can see that." Mario said while inspecting the strange barrier.

"Hey! Where's Princess Peach and the others? Aren't they with you?" Starlow asked.

"WHAT?! The princess?! Don't tell me she was inhaled as well!" Toadsworth shouted in complete shock.

"Actually, it would make sense that she would've been inhaled too…" Toadbert threw in.

"Yes… Bowser got everyone. Ugh, we're in a real fix." Starlow groaned.

"Horrors… The princess… It rends the heart!" Toadsworth spoke while crying. "All alone within Bowser's body… On her own amid such filth… DEAR PRINCESS!"

"Whoa! Toadsworth, calm down, by boogity!" Toadbert placed a hand on Toadsworth's shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be fine. After all, she gets captured all the time and has to take care of herself alone until Mario comes to her…"

"Well, anyways, we better get Toadsworth and Toadbert out of there." Mario stated.

"Yeah, but the thing is, this barrier looks tough. I doubt even a hammer or Donkey Kong's punch would dent it…" Starlow told.

"Guys! Over here!" Luigi called out from the left side. "I can see something through this gap!" he directs to a very tight and narrow gap on the ground.

"Looks like the gap's too narrow for your body size. You'll never get through…" Starlow said.

"Not if I do this!" Luigi took out his hammer and whacked it at Mario, shrinking him down enough to fit into the gap, leaving Starlow astonished.

"Oh yeah! I remember seeing this in a movie!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.

"You mean the movie of our adventure at the Beanbean Kingdom? Awesome!" Luigi exclaimed in joy.

With Mini Mario, he took out his hammer and hit the Nubbin at the end. Eventually, the barrier disappears, allowing Toadsworth and Toadbert to walk out free.

"Huzzah! Sweet freedom! Masters! My deepest thanks!" Toadsworth thanked. "I daresay Master Mario and co. will now seek the princess, Master Yoshi and Master Wario, hm?"

"That's right!" the group nodded.

"Marvelous. Simply marvelous! Everyone, especially the princess, must be made safe at all costs!"

"Speaking of which… We should tell you, as we made our way here, we spotted a huge, flat bug by some sort of door." Toadbert told them.

"It was wretched, to be sure! I shudder to think of it, but if it attacked the princess…"

"No! It didn't! I swear to you, Toadsworth! As we were still wandering, I took a look back and noticed that it was going after one of Mario's friends!"

"Wait, one of our friends is here?! Where?!" Donkey Kong asked in desperation.

"As I said, it was next to a door located at the very end of this area, if I'm not mistaken." Toadbert answered.

"Righto! With that large, foul bug in the sure hands of Masters Mario, Luigi and DK, we shall be off!" Toadsworth said. "I believe it would behoove us all if I were to find the other Toads and glean what I can."

"Good luck out there!" Toadbert waved as he and Toadsworth left, heading back to Toad Square.

"Well, we should head off and search for a door somewhere!" Donkey Kong spoke.

They moved on. After dealing with more obstacles and enemies on the way, they eventually found something called a Stingler, which is a sparking object that could be used somewhere. How about the door?

Speaking of which, the heroes found the door, which oddly enough, has DNA around it with a hole in the middle. Thinking the Stingler might fit perfectly; the group inserts it into the hole. Eventually, the Stingler electrifies the DNA, causing it to glow and the door opens. The group heads inside.

* * *

They immediately found themselves filled with many areas to choose from right in front of their eyes. Since they promised Bowser that they'll bring back his fire, they went to the area on the right.

The area they went was called the Flame Pipe, most likely located somewhere in Bowser's lungs. The background shows what might be the pulmonary alveolus and their capillaries. The ground is mostly composed of the lung's tissue and we could even see the cells.

They began to follow the pipe's trail so that they could see what its problem was this entire time. Once they reached the end, they could see some sort of bug that was standing over the pipe. To their amusement, some flames came out of the pipe, lifting the bug up, but it slammed back on it.

"Wait, is that bug blocking Bowser's flame pipe?" Mario asked.

"…Of course! No wonder he can't spit fire!" Donkey Kong confirmed.

"What's this kind of bug, anyway?" Luigi wondered as he approaches the bug. It was then that the bug stuck its long tongue out, frightening Luigi. "CRIPES! Its tongue is as long as Yoshi's!" he flinched before backing off.

"Oh boy. I've seen these bugs. They live in Dimble Wood. I believe they're called Scutlets." Starlow said. "Bowser must have inhaled it with whatever else he ate. But to have gotten this big… What's it been eating?"

All of a sudden, the Scutlet stuck its tongue out again, and latched it at Starlow!

"EEEYERP!" Starlow screamed as she was eaten.

"STARLOW!" Mario and Donkey Kong shouted. They were about to fight the Scutlet, until they realized that Luigi had ran away.

"Hey, Luigi! Stop monkeying over there! Let's take down that Scutlet!" Mario called out.

"NO! THAT TONGUE IS FREAKING ME OUT!" Luigi cried out.

"Oh, brother…" Mario rolled his eyes. He goes in front of Luigi, brought out his hammer and hits the ground to catch his attention, but that caused him to flinch in startle:

"GAH! OKAY, I'M GOING!"

Luigi ran towards the Scutlet, who was still sticking its tongue out. However, he ran too far ahead and he ended up getting licked…on his crotch.

"H-Hey! That t-tickles!" Luigi stuttered before stepping back and shielding his crotch while blushing in embarrassment. Unknown to him, Mario and Donkey Kong were at the back trying to hold their laughs.

"Alright, now that Luigi is with us, l-let's just beat that bug!" Donkey Kong said between his laughter.

The Scutlet latches its tongue at Mario, but he jumped over it and also stomped it. Donkey Kong did a Jumping Headbutt at the Scutlet, followed up by the brothers' stomping.

The Scutlet did another tongue latch this time at Luigi, who didn't had time to jump over, and he ended up being grabbed by it, with the Scutlet throwing him at Mario.

"Ugh!" Mario groaned from the impact as both brothers fell on the ground.

"Sorry…" Luigi apologized.

"Hey! That's not a nice thing to do!" Donkey Kong hissed and managed to grab the Scutlet's tongue before it retreated into its mouth, and thanks to his strong arms, Donkey Kong tied the tongue into a knot, causing the Scutlet to wince in pain. "There. Now it won't attack us with its tongue anymore." He spoke.

"Great work! This could be our chance to finish it!" Mario grinned.

That is, until the Scutlet rose into the air by the flames from the pipe, and was right above the heroes.

"BUG INCOMING!" Luigi shouted when the Scutlet began to fall towards them.

They quickly moved out of the way before the Scutlet could crush them. The Scutlet retreated over the pipe.

"All right, now we have a chance!" Mario pulls out a Fire Flower from his pocket. "Fire Flower!"

Mario and Luigi absorbed the Fire Flower, becoming Fire Mario and Fire Luigi. The fire brothers shot as many fireballs as they could at the Scutlet until it explodes.

With that, once the Scutlet exploded, two people came out from it. One was Starlow, and the other one…was Yoshi!

"Hoo boy! Shouldn't have let my guard down…" Starlow sweatdropped. "I owe you guys one!"

"Oof…" Yoshi groaned as he gets up. "Boy, that was scary…"

"Yoshi!" Donkey Kong exclaimed as he went to Yoshi. "So you were eaten by that Scutlet too, mate?"

"Oh! You're all okay!" Yoshi chirped upon seeing his friends. "Yes, once I was inhaled by Bowser, I walked around until some bug came in and ate me. I owe you too for saving me!"

"You're welcome!" Mario smiled.

Just then, the flames came out from the pipe, and because nothing was blocking it, they were able to reach the upper pipe. At the same time, Bowser suddenly opened his mouth and the flames came out from it, burning the dry trees at his front.

"Whoa, what happened? My flame is back!" Bowser spoke. Back inside, the heroes watched the pipes reconnecting.

"You had a bug problem! You sucked one up, and it plugged your flame pipe!" Starlow told him.

"What?! Really?!" Bowser questioned.

"We already took care of it! Calm down, will you?" Mario said.

"GWAHAHAHA!" Bowser laughed in glory. "Not too shabby! Not sure why this came in my mind, but I might make you honorary minions once I finally beat Mario!"

"Yeah… Not gonna happen." Mario spoke in a cold tone.

"Hmph! Well, forget I offered. No one needs to know. Say, what's your name anyway, other person?" Bowser asked Starlow.

"Uh…my name?" Starlow questioned.

"Yeah. Your name. Give me it."

"Uh… Ummmm… My name is… Uh… CHIPPY!" Starlow answered, causing Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Donkey Kong to face-fault. "What?"

"Chippy? Weird name…" Bowser replied.

"Yeah, a little weird… Look, it doesn't matter."

"Speak for yourself…" Yoshi muttered.

"Wait, hang on! Am I hearing Dino Boy's voice now?" Bowser asked once he heard Yoshi's voice from inside him.

"…Doh."

"We…uh, just saved him from that bug who was blocking your flame pipe. That's all!" Luigi said.

"Well, whatever. The only thing that matters is Captain Flame is back, baby! He's got a fiery temper, but MAN is he a fun dude!" Bowser smirked, breathing more fire from his mouth.

"Yoshi, have you seen Princess Peach?" Starlow asked.

"The princess? No, I haven't seen her. Sorry." Yoshi shook his head.

" ***sigh*** well, looks like Princess Peach isn't around here, huh? Nothing we can do… I guess we might as well let Bowser do his thing. Maybe he'll create some more changes in his body environment." Starlow said.

"Probably." Mario nodded. "Come on, let's head back to Toad Square."

The group nodded and left the Flame Pipe area, while Bowser went out of Plack Beach and into Dimble Wood.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Toadsworth, Toadbert and Yoshi are safe and sound! But what about the rest? Stay tuned for the next chapter! Please review.  
**


	7. The Recalling Dimble Wood

**I was very busy studying for part of my last test. Sorry again for the wait.**

 **But now, enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: The Recalling Dimble Wood**

Upon exiting Plack Beach, our villain has reached Dimble Wood once again. Just north of here is Bumpsy Plains, the Bowser Path and finally Bowser's Castle, so Bowser is almost on his way to his castle. He looked around the woods and saw something familiar on all those trees.

"These woods… They look familiar…" he pondered. "Hold on! That's the place where I was sent to once Peach flung me out of her castle!"

" _Hmm… So that also might be the place where you got tricked by Fawful."_ Starlow confirmed.

"Yep; it was here, Chippy."

" _Wait a minute, if this is where you started to inhale everything, then why did you went all the way to Peach's Castle?"_ Mario asked.

"How should I know? I can't tell if the reason is because I wanted or is it because I was controlled…"

" _Controlled?"_

"Yeah, about that…"

"UURRGH!" Bowser then heard a groaning voice. "Hey! Don't shove!"

"Hold up, who said that…? Hey!" Bowser saw something at the distance.

He saw a group of Goombas trapped in a cage struggling to get some room since the cage was too tight for all of them:

"Ouch, man! OUCH!"

"Haaalp!"

"Can't breathe…"

"I want my mom!"

"You slackers! What are you doing?!" Bowser questioned coyly. That's where the Goombas noticed him. "Some nutjob's after my castle! And you guys are hanging out playing Cram-in-the-Cage?!"

"BOWSER!"

"BOWSER! BOWSER!"

"CAN'T SEE! FOOT IN FACE!"

"BOWSER!"

"Oh man, Bowser… You gotta help us!"

"Your castle already got hit! It was bad, man. Real bad! Some guy named Fawful… Just look! He crammed the entire Goomba squadron in a cage and CHUCKED US!"

"Chucked you?! Goombas don't get chucked, pal!" Bowser replied. "'Marching straight ahead into the enemy's feet!' Didn't you memorize that in Goomba boot camp?"

"It was all real sudden, Boss… We're unworthy. Not fit for stomping."

"Pathetic… So what about the rest of my military? Did the other corps get spanked as bad as you?" Bowser asked.

"Probably… It was brutal…"

"BRAAARGH!" Bowser roared so furiously that he breathed out fire from his mouth. "I TOLD you to train harder! No wonder Mario crushes you!"

" _Hey! I'm right here, you know?"_ Mario spoke bitterly.

"Did I just hear a voice coming from you, Boss?" one of the Goombas asked.

"What?!" Bowser's eyes widened. "No. You heard nothing." He shook his head while crossing his arms in order to hide the fact that Mario was inside his body.

"Oh, okay. I must be hearing things again. Anyway, yeah. Sorry, Boss. Sorry, Bowser." The same Goomba apologized while crestfallen.

"Well, I'll train you chumps up nice! Follow me!" Bowser demanded, forgetting that the Goombas were still trapped.

"Oh! Thanks! Sweet! But… Uh, how do we get off this island, Bowser?"

"I'll make a bridge or something! BECAUSE I GET THINGS DONE. Yeah, instead of crying all the time, I make things happen!"

Bowser then leaves, looking for a way to make some sort of bridge. But not before going on an area where nobody was in sight and scolded:

"Man, that was SO CLOSE, Mario! One of my Goombas almost caught you after hearing your voice inside of me!"

" _Okay, I'm sorry, but I had to spit that out!"_ Mario growled. _"It's not my fault that your Goombas get squished all the time! It's because no matter what, Goombas will always be the weakest minions in your army."_

"How DARE you speak that to me!" Bowser growled back. Then, he smirked: "Besides, Goomboss, my strongest Goomba, has captured and locked you once, remember?"

" _Well, that happened because I was caught off guard! I was trying to free Luigi from King Boo and Wario from Chief Chilly, but I didn't notice Goomboss coming!"_

"Whatever." Bowser rolled his eyes. " _Man, if that's the case, I should send Goomboss at Mario more often…_ " he thought before moving on.

Soon, he came upon a large Wiggler statue standing upwards.

" _Maybe this thing will work as a bridge…_ " Bowser thought before grabbing hold of it and trying to pull it out.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"It looks like the Arm Center is reacting once again!" Starlow said.

"All right! Let's stimulate his arm muscles again!" Mario grinned as he and his crew went back to the Arm Center.

There, they saw Bowser's arm muscle doing contractions again. The bros nodded to each other and Mario hit the cannon's switch to start the orb minigame again.

Once they were done, Bowser successfully pulled out the Wiggler statue and it flew to the other side of the shore, creating a bridge.

"Aw yeah!" Bowser fist pumps. "Hmm, let me guess, you guys stimulated my muscles again, right?"

" _Uh, yeah…"_ Luigi murmured.

"I owe you for that! Now to save my Goomba troop."

With that, Bowser crossed the bridge and reached the island where the Goombas were trapped. He approaches the gate and punches it multiple times until it broke apart. The Goombas celebrated:

"You did it!"

"Our hero!"

"High five!"

"Right! And now we take back my castle!" Bowser said.

"GOO-RAH!"

The Goombas then joined as minions, allowing Bowser to use a move in battle called Goomba Storm. Shortly after, another Fawfulcopter came to him and Fawful's voice came from it:

"I have the weeping! Such a reunion of sobs! You have moved Fawful with the family drama."

"Shut up! And don't mess with my minions! Only I do that!" Bowser hissed.

"But now I have chortle time! Fawful scattered your minions like litter from a sad, ugly cat. Are you wanting to hear them? For they are on the TV show. The TV show of your tears!"

A small screen pops out, showing some depressed minions.

" _Bowser! Sir! Koopa unit down. Requesting evac!"_ a Koopa said.

" _SOS SOS SOS SOS Bob-omb squad here!"_ a Bob-omb said. _"Come in, anyone! Hello? Anyone copying this?"_

" _Shy Guy corps reporting. They got us. They got us all."_ A Shy Guy said. _"We're such bad soldiers!"_

This made Bowser REALLY furious as he grits his teeth:

"This… STINKS! MY MINIONS!"

"I HAVE CHORTLES! And soon, I have your castle! Fawful will love it there! You will visit, perhaps! Fawful will reserve the Crying Room for the crying for your minions. And the crying will be like a savory soda for my soul! NOW I HAVE FURY!" Fawful spoke before sending out two Treevils at Bowser. "Some fighting will be slowing you!" he finished and left.

"Oh yeah? Just watch me burning these trees down to a crisp!" Bowser smirked before breathing fire at the Treevils, burning both of them. "Heh! They don't call me 'Burning Machine' for nothing!"

With the fight done, Bowser continued to make his way to his castle.

* * *

 _ **Some time later…**_

After facing more Treevils and also Trashures, Bowser arrived at the northernmost part of the woods where he saw the Elite Trio pushing a large cannon. They pushed and pushed, until Private Goomp collapsed in exhaustion:

"Hoff… Haff… Hfuhruhurr… It's… It's no good, guys… My back… I tweaked it…"

"Get it together, Private Goomp! Let's scout the area, at least." Sergeant Guy said.

"I wonder what everyone else is doing right now…"

"I bet they're hurting bad. I mean, you guys were there. That scene was GNARLY." Corporal Paraplonk remarked.

"Think we're the only ones who escaped?"

"Yeah… I bet we are… Boy… That was just plain mean! Who plans an attack when Bowser's not there?"

"Ugh… If only Bowser were here, he'd know what to do…" Sergeant Guy grumbled.

"Bowser, man… Where are you? And what are you doing?" Private Goomp wondered.

"Hey! Minions!" Bowser called out, catching the Elite Trio's attention. They turned to Bowser and immediately exclaimed:

"BOWSERRRRR!"

After the Elite Trio explained everything to Bowser, he spoke:

"So… My castle got taken over, huh? That Fawful weirdo wasn't joking, then…"

"Yeah… It… Well, this weird trio just showed up and went nuts. Huge attack, and just like that, they had the castle…" Private Goomp explained.

"Uh-huh, we were doing a, uh, tactical retreat, and we grabbed this cannon to maybe use…" Corporal Paraplonk added.

"GWAHAHA!" Bowser laughed. "Good stuff! And don't worry! We'll get my castle back!"

"Yes, sir! Shoo-rah!" Sergeant Guy fist pumped.

"So… What was the plan with the cannon, huh, guys?" Bowser asked.

"Oh! We were, uh, gonna aim it at your castle, and, y'know… Launch it! And then…bonk!" Corporal Paraplonk answered.

"Sir, the bonking to which he refers is on the enemy heads!" Sergeant Guy said.

"Niiiice! Not a bad idea for a bunch of minions!" Bowser exclaimed. "I'm on board with it! Launch away!"

However, the Elite Trio looked at each other nervously before Private Goomp stuttered:

"Uh… But… We… That… We can't…launch now."

"To be frank, sir, we appear to be lacking ammunition…" Sergeant Guy threw in.

"Yeah, lemme just jump in here and add that I forgot to bring the Banzai Bill for the cannon." Corporal Paraplonk finished.

Bowser's excitement shifted to fury as the Elite Trio sweatdropped and he yelled:

"IDIOTS!"

This caused the Elite Trio to fly backwards a few feet away from Bowser as he continues:

"Wow, why am I not surprised?! Look, chumps, if we don't have a Banzai Bill, go find one! We must've launched hundreds of 'em at Mario over the years. There must be one around!"

"You got it, Boss! We'll find a Banzai Bill right away!" Private Goomp said, but then tilted his head: "So, uh… So where are they at, again?"

This caused Bowser to face-fault before yelling again:

"IDIOTS!"

Private Goomp was sent back again and Bowser growled at the Elite Trio:

"I told you to find one because I don't know where they are!"

"Yikes! Right away, Boss! We'll find one! Be right back!" the Elite Trio shouted and immediately scurried off to look for a Banzai Bill.

" _Hey! Why don't YOU go look for one as well?"_ Donkey Kong suggested.

"What?!"

" _DK has a point; those guys didn't seem too reliable."_ Yoshi pointed out.

"Hey! Oversized ape and Dino boy! I was GONNA look, OK?"

" _I'm pretty sure you weren't thinking about that earlier…"_ Mario stated.

"Oh, shut up! Just let me go look for a damn Banzai Bill, will ya?!"

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

"Man, where the heck I'm going to find a Banzai Bill in these woods?" Bowser grumbled. "Hm?" he came upon a carrot farm at the northeastern part of the woods. "What is this stuff? These look like crops! Who the heck FARMS in this kingdom?"

"Careful! Don't you know? Wiggler Family Farm has raised vegetables for generations." a little voice spoke to him. Bowser looked down to see a tiny Wiggler called a Squiggler standing a few feet away.

"Hey. Bug. Do I look like I care about vegetables?" Bowser glared. "So listen up. You seen a Banzai Bill around here?"

"Banzai Bill? Not here." The Squiggler replied. "Violence isn't farm fresh, no. Here we just have fine organic vegetables free from pesticides. Peach has a standing order. You should try them. Free-range carrots are absolutely divine. Full of vitamins and minerals. Wonderful for a lustrous mane. Aids beauty and dietary health. Also good for burning fat, healing joints, firming nostrils, supplying nutrition to muscles…"

"SHUT UP!" Bowser interrupted the Squiggler. "Vegetables are GROSS! Don't you have any meat?!"

"Meat. Oh, absolutely not. A healthy body craves no meat." The Squiggler shook his head. "And those who make fun of vegetables will one day pay." He then leaves.

"Hey! Where are you going, pip-squeak?!" Bowser growled before following the Squiggler.

Once Bowser lost sight of the Squiggler, he saw a huge carrot planted in the ground, sharing almost the size of a Banzai Bill.

"GWAHAAA!" he laughed in glory. "Talk about a huge veggie! Not bad! If this is all we got, then veggie ammo it is!" he then grabs the carrot and tries to pull it out.

Back in Bowser's body, his arm muscles were once again doing contractions, so the gang had to head back to the Arm Center and do the minigame again. But this time, the cannon appeared much more different and the orbs now pop out from it rhythmically.

After completing this rhythmical minigame, the Mario Bros managed to stimulate Bowser's arm muscles again and he finally pulls out the carrot. He turned around and looks at the Giga-carrot, noticing how big it was.

"Whoa, that is really big. Might not fit in the cannon…" he pondered.

"STOP, THIEF!" a voice yelled.

Eventually, a Wiggler came out of the hole where the carrot used to be.

"The great giga-carrot! Raised by Wigglers for generations!" the Wiggler spoke. "That giga-carrot was grown by my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's generation and every single one since! And you yanked it!"

"Hey, giant talking bug! You seen a Banzai Bill around here anywhere?" Bowser asked, ignoring the Wiggler's speech.

"…You don't care about the story of the Wigglers at all, huh? So, a Banzai Bill? I have one."

"What?! Awesome!"

"Yes, a long time ago, a Banzai Bill fell into the pasture. I have secretly cared for it, telling no one where it lies. Do you want it?"

"Yes! Gimme!"

"Oh, of course, I would, but… You really need to learn a lesson or two about honor. So first of all, you need to take responsibility for yanking out this giga-carrot. Then we can talk Banzai Bill."

"Responsibility?!"

"You heard me! The Wiggler family has been growing this for ages! Growing this huge giga-carrot! Now take responsibility… AND EAT IT! When you yank a vegetable out, be responsible and eat it all. That's been Wiggler law since time out of mind. Waste not!"

"Eat THAT?! It's huge!"

"Fine, don't. But no Banzai Bill."

"Hmmph… OK, fine! Got any hot sauce?"

"By the way, there's a time limit. You have one minute to eat it. All of it. Think of it as a sort of challenge."

"WHAT?! That's…really fast! Lemme taste it first."

"I'm afraid not."

"I hate veggies! What if I scarf this down and get a bellyache? I'm not signing on for that!"

"I suppose that's fair. You may have a taste. But just a little one."

Bowser then walks towards the carrot, getting ready to eat it.

"Here goes! Chow time!" he said before eating some bits of the carrot's end.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Eh? I smell…carrot." Yoshi sniffed.

"Carrot? Since when Bowser eats vegetables?" Mario questioned.

"If he's eating right now, then we should head to his stomach!" Starlow said.

"Oh, really?! Ugh… I hate smelling Hydrochloric acid!" Luigi muttered.

The group quickly made their way to the Gut Check, located obviously in Bowser's stomach. We could see the stomach's muscle walls clearly. The heroes came into this area by the stomach's duodenum. There was another cannon up ahead, which could possibly be the gastric gland that digests the food.

When the heroes began to control the cannon, they saw many carrot bits falling into the stomach, but because they were so small, those bits appear much bigger, almost at their size length. Of course, digesting all of those bits takes a while. Luckily, the Wiggler said that the giga-carrot held special enzymes that can digest all of the carrot bits at once. Every time Bowser eats some carrot bits and his mouth flashes, that carrot bit has the enzyme, and thankfully, the heroes are able to see a faint glow appearing at the very top of the esophagus that indicate the result of Bowser's mouth flashing. So if they are going to help Bowser digest the whole carrot in under one minute, they'll have to focus on finding the enzymes.

Once the minigame was over, Bowser managed to eat all of the carrot in exactly 45 seconds. The Wiggler was impressed:

"I can't believe it! An eating record! And what a time! Just 45 seconds! How very splendid. Let's have a round of applause for Bowser. Not that anyone saw all that…uh, right?" he looks at the readers.

"Hey! Watch the fourth-wall breaking!" Bowser warned. "Anyway, I took responsibility! Gimme my Banzai Bill!"

"Well, just calm down. Don't panic, don't panic."

"It's all good! Banzai Bill me!"

"What? What do you mean? What were we talking about?"

"Don't start, pal! We had a deal!" Bowser gritted his teeth.

Suddenly, the Wiggler turned red with anger.

"You invade our peaceful farm and contaminate it!" he hissed. "You yank our giga-carrot! And then you EAT it! Now face Wiggler's wrath!"

"You TOLD me to eat it, you idiot!" Bowser growled.

"I must avenge the Wigglers whose legacy you sullied! You must be removed from our farm like compost!"

"Bah! You like compost? I'll compost your FACE!"

The Wiggler immediately charged at Bowser, but he countered with his punch. Bowser then breathes fire at the Wiggler, but he took no damage when he was red like that. The Wiggler then took out a watering can and made turnips grow. He then plucks the turnips to throw them at Bowser. Bowser destroys the turnips by punching them.

Soon, two Leaf Guys came down carrying a large turnip. At the same time, Wiggler charges for Bowser again, but he punches three of the five parts of the Wiggler's body, turning them yellow. That's where Bowser guessed that if he makes all of the Wiggler's body parts yellow, he could damage him. Seeing the large turnip above, Bowser inhaled the two Leaf Guys inside him, and the large turnip fell right at the Wiggler's body, turning it yellow again.

The two Leaf Guys fell down to where the heroes were. The Leaf Guys charged for Mario and Luigi, but they countered with their hammers, giving a chance for Yoshi to wrap his tongue at one of them and send it to the other, defeating the two Leaf Guys.

Back outside, the Wiggler was now weak, and Bowser smirked at him:

"What's the matter? You're weak already? Well, here's something for you! Goomba Storm!"

Bowser took out his stack of Goombas, threw them to the left and commanded them to charge after the Wiggler and tackle him. Bowser also breathes fireballs at some Goombas, causing them to fly into the air and crash down at the Wiggler's head.

"Ouchouchouchouch…" Wiggler groaned in defeat. "I can't bear it if you damage the rest of our organic crops…" he then heads back into the hole and finishes grumpily: "Please, just take this and leave our property!" he throws out a Banzai Bill to Bowser.

"GWAHAAA! We can use the cannon now!" Bowser exclaimed and exited the farm.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Something big is about to happen in the next chapter! Maybe! Please review.  
**


	8. A giant awakens

**Next chapter done!  
**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: A giant awakens**

Now that Bowser had a Banzai Bill, he wastes no time on heading back to where the cannon was to send an attack at his stolen castle. Unfortunately, he wasn't going anywhere because once he exited the carrot farm, he felt something painful as he stopped walking.

"Ooof! Hrrrgh?" he groaned as he held his belly. "OWWWW!" he winced in pain.

The heroes heard Bowser's wincing and for the first time, they showed concern for him as Starlow asks:

" _What? What is it?! What's wrong?"_

"Ouch! Owwwww! What the—YOWCH! MY BELLY HURTS!"

" _What is it, do you think? You ate too much carrot?"_ Yoshi guessed.

"GRROWCH! Listen! G-Guys! Do something! I can't take this! Now! Make it better!"

" _But the kingdom's in danger!"_ Starlow warned. _"If we delay, we may never get your castle back!"_

"Quick… Now… Gut… Pain…"

" _I guess we have to deal with this. Bowser, don't move, OK?"_ Mario said.

" _We'll go find out what's causing all this pain!"_ Luigi added.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Alright, let's check out what's giving him this stomachache." Donkey Kong said.

Before they could head out of Toad Square, they heard Toadsworth's voice coming from behind:

"Hey! Wait! Dear Masters!"

"What is it, Toadsworth?" Mario asked.

"Didn't you notice that Toadbert and Toadiko are gone?"

"They're gone?"

"Yeah! They haven't come back ever since! Do you think you could find them?"

"We'll try. For now, we have a rushing problem to take care of."

The heroes left Toad Square and went to the newly opened area in Bowser's body: the Nerve Cluster, located somewhere in Bowser's arm nerve, which could possibly be the ulnar nerve since it was on the surface. The ground once again consists of bones, the ones from the arm, and muscle below. The background could be showing the skin cells.

The heroes walked ahead until some earthquakes stopped them.

"What was that?" Luigi asked.

"I have no idea…" Mario shrugged.

All of a sudden, a large caterpillar bursts out of a bone wall, with someone else flying off, catching the heroes by surprise.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" Luigi panicked.

Starlow, on the other hand, flew pacifically towards the caterpillar and spoke:

"Oh, wow! Are you a friend of the bug from the farm?"

The caterpillar did a few stomps, which caused Bowser to growl in pain.

"Oh, so that thing is what's causing pain to Bowser!" Donkey Kong confirmed.

"Don't talk much, huh? You must've been in the carrot Bowser ate!" Starlow continues to reason. The caterpillar walked closer to her. "Wow, you got huge. I wonder why? And why are you…uh, sidling?"

Soon, an army of Biffidus showed up at the ceiling upside down. They fell down from the ceiling and pointed their spears at the heroes, only for the caterpillar to swallow them, causing her to grow.

"Yikes! It's been eating those white things! They made it big!" Starlow flinched.

"Those white things were acting like if they're Bowser's antibodies!" Mario pointed out.

"How can you tell?" Luigi asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Antibodies destroy any antigens that gets inside the individual's body. And because we're strangers in this place, these antibody guys must've thought we were antigens and that's why they pointed their spears at us!"

"Oh, I get it."

The caterpillar did more stomps, hurting Bowser even more.

"Ow! OWWW! Guys! I'm going nuts up here!" he shouted. "What are you doing?! Do something now!"

"Mario, what should we do?" Starlow asked.

"One thing's for sure; if we don't get Bowser moving, we're in big trouble. We have no choice but to defeat that caterpillar." Mario answered.

"True…" Starlow nodded. She turns around to the caterpillar, who was called Durmite, and said: "Sorry, bug. It seems wrong, but we must…uh, exterminate you."

"Yeah! Right, Luigi?" Donkey Kong turned to Luigi.

"What? Uh… I'm not so sure…" he stuttered.

"Seriously, Luigi? Again?" Mario was not amused.

"I'm off!" Luigi ran away.

"Oh no, you don't!" Yoshi manages to wrap his tongue around Luigi, pulling him back to the group.

"Come on…" he murmured before the group went into battle.

Durmite turns red and charges after Donkey Kong, but he countered with his Giant Punch, sending her back. Mario and Luigi stomped her, followed by Yoshi's Egg Bomb.

But then, Durmite spits out a sticky string from her snout and manages to capture Yoshi. She eats him and spits him out at the brothers, knocking them down. Durmite then took the opportunity to summon a Straw and used it to drink Bowser's nutrients to regain health while some Biffiduses showed up to guard her.

Donkey Kong then performed his Hand Slap to take out the Biffiduses and knock down the Straw to prevent Durmite from regaining health. In the meantime, Yoshi, Mario and Luigi recovered after the early event and went back to the fight.

Durmite then swallows all of the Biffiduses and attacks the group by spitting out the Biffiduses' spears, but Yoshi swallowed all of the spears and spat them back at Durmite, leaving her dazed.

"Quick! While she's dazed, let's use this!" Mario takes out a golden shell helmet with a trampoline.

"All right!" Luigi grinned.

"Jump Helmet!"

Luigi puts on the helmet as Mario prepares to jump. Mario jumps on the trampoline, sending him into the air, while Luigi controls his trajectory so that he could land back on the trampoline every time he comes back down. After the brothers got close enough to the Durmite, Mario successfully stomps her head hard enough to defeat her.

But for their surprise, Durmite wasn't defeated; she just shrunk to what it have been her regular size before she ate all of those Biffiduses. The heroes watched her flee.

"Well… That was awkward…" Luigi tilted his head.

"Urgh…" just then, they heard a low voice from behind. "Man, and I thought I could deal with that thing by myself…"

They turned around and saw…

"…Wario?" they spoke in unison.

"Eh? Oh! It's you guys." Wario said as he went to them.

"Looks like we're all together now at last." Yoshi stated.

"So you were trying to fend that bug by yourself?" Starlow asked.

"Yeah, after Bowser sucked me, I woke up in this weird place until I was attacked by that giant bug." Wario explained. "I thought I had the strength to beat it, but it was too strong and I was sent flying back."

"Oh, that explains why you were sent over here."

"Well, I'm glad that we're together again and we got rid of Bowser's pain." Mario said.

"But I wonder… What if Princess Peach might be up ahead? After all, there's more to explore over there." Starlow wondered.

The complete group nodded and moved on. But not before a spear fell down from the ceiling and landed in front of Mario, stopping their progress.

"What the...?" Mario looked up, followed by the rest of the group.

What they saw at the ceiling shocked them: there were DOZENS of Biffiduses standing upside down at the ceiling!

"OH GEEZ!" Luigi yelled in shock.

The Biffiduses all fell from the ceiling in a wall formation, blocking the heroes' way. They tried to head back, but more Biffiduses fell down in a wall formation, trapping them. The Biffiduses all spun and spun until their spears worked as drills and they pierced the ground on both sides. The only thing that remained was a single platform that was large enough for the heroes to fit and it fell down along with them into an abyss.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" they screamed until the platform landed on the lower ground.

 ***THUD!***

"Ow, my tush…" Wario groaned.

"Who knew Bowser's antibodies could be so deadly…" Luigi mumbled.

Starlow flew out and noticed a dead end at the left side.

"Hmm… This passage is blocked!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, great… Hmm… What to do…" Mario pondered.

"I know that voice, by boogity…" they suddenly heard Toadbert's voice coming from the right. "Is Mario and his friends in here?"

"Huh?" Mario turned around and saw Toadbert standing near a purple Nubbin attached to a neuron. He and Co. went to Toadbert, who exclaims:

"Wow, it IS Mario and Co.!"

"Toadbert! There you are!" Yoshi exclaimed. "Toadsworth is worrying sick for you and Toadiko!"

"Oh, is that so? I'm sorry… I didn't mean to worry him. You see, Toadiko and I went out to study some more things in Bowser's body while also looking for Princess Peach, but we were separated in here. I was trying to find a way to reunite until I stumbled upon this Nubbin."

"Speaking of Princess Peach, have you seen her around here, Toadbert?" Starlow asked.

"Unfortunately, I haven't seen her around here anywhere…" Toadbert shook his head. "She's gotta be in his body somewhere, though… I guess you just gotta keep trudging around, huh?"

"Yeah, but first, we need a way out." Wario stated.

Luigi then eyed at the Nubbin behind Toadbert and got curious. He walks to it and hammers it, catching everyone's attention.

Eventually, some energy sparked in its neuron, following its trail in the axon leading to another neuron. The energy followed its path on another axon leading to the closed path at the left side, opening it. After that, the same energy sparked again and this time it flowed to the axons on the bottom.

With that, Bowser began to feel pain in his right arm.

"My belly starts feeling better, and now my ARM hurts?! C'mon!" he grumbled. "Hey! You in there! What are you doing to my bod?!"

"Hm! It looks like that had some sort of effect on Bowser's arm." Toadbert stated.

"His arm?" Yoshi asked.

"Yeah, I've been poking around… This whole area is a pressure point for Bowser's arm. It's just a theory, but I think if he punches while moving, he'll punch much harder than before!"

This made everyone's eyebrows perk up. Back outside, Bowser was still feeling pain on his arm that he grumbled again:

"Bah! This is getting me nowhere! It makes me wanting to punch something!"

He then moves while punching the air, and to his surprise, he slid on the ground while punching!

"Whoa! What the heck?!" he wasn't expecting that.

"Wow, it did work!" Starlow spoke surprised.

"GAH HA HA!" Bowser laughed. "Oh baby, that was awesome! You guys can thank me later!"

"Heh, except for the fact that I can do that too!" Wario smirked.

"…And now that fatso is with you this time? What's next, Peach?!" Bowser questioned.

"Oh well… Bowser now knows that all five of us are together again." Mario sweatdropped.

"Anyway, looks like you guys have this under control. I'm gonna go find a way to reunite with Toadiko and head back to Toad Square. See you later, by boogity!" Toadbert finished and left.

"Say, didn't you guys saw something odd on Toadbert?" Luigi asked.

"What do you mean, greenie?" Wario raised an eyebrow.

"I just noticed that Toadbert was wearing some sort of pink rose brooch on his chest, which was the same one that Toadiko was wearing since we saw her at the beginning!"

"Wait, really?! How come we've never noticed that?" Mario questioned.

"Luigi sure has eyes of an eagle…" Yoshi said.

"Well, anyway, maybe we should explore Bowser's body for a little bit now that we're together. Plus, I did see an area where we haven't explored it yet." Donkey Kong suggested.

"Sounds good, DK. Let's go." Mario said and they left the Nerve Cluster. As they were leaving, Luigi was thinking suspiciously:

" _Something's suspicious about that rose brooch… I wonder what it is?_ "

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

After experiencing this new technique, the Sliding Punch, Bowser went back to focus on his mission; use the Banzai Bill to take down his castle. Once he arrived back at the area where the cannon was, he heard Private Goomp's voice:

"Find anything?"

Followed up by Corporal Paraplonk's voice:

"Nothing…"

The screen scrolls to the Elite Trio standing near the cannon.

"No way there's a Banzai Bill in the forest…" Private Goomp lamented.

"Great… As always, a Bowser plan goes totally off the rails…" Corporal Paraplonk muttered.

"He does lack strategy…" Sergeant Guy pointed out.

"He's stubborn…" Private Goomp threw in.

"Selfish…" Corporal Paraplonk added.

"Possibly unfit for duty. Huge head, tiny brain…"

Before Sergeant Guy could finish, a Banzai Bill landed right in front of their faces, causing them to sweatdrop.

"BOWSERRRRR!" they exclaimed.

"You're useless! Now move it! Load up the Banzai Bill!" Bowser demanded.

"Bowser always comes through!" Sergeant Guy changed his mind.

* * *

 _ **Soon, after loading the cannon…**_

"OK, Bowser! The Banzai Bill is loaded up!" Private Goomp confirmed.

"All systems go for launch!" Sergeant Guy said.

"Just light that fuse and BOOM! ZOOM! BONK!" Corporal Paraplonk exclaimed.

"About time! I'll just give it the old flame treatment. Watch carefully, minions! This is how you get it done!" Bowser grinned as he walks to the cannon's fuse and lights it up with his fire breath.

In an instant, the Banzai Bill takes off into the skies and heads towards Bowser's Castle. Inside, Midbus, Viverna and some Goombas hear about the news.

"Trouble, Lord Midbus and Lady Viverna! There's a Banzai Bill on course for the castle!" one of the Goombas reported.

"The trajectory suggests a Dimble Wood launch!" the other one finished.

"What? Will it hit the castle?" Midbus asked.

"It may! A possible BOOM! High probability of BOOSH! A BRAAK may wreck the castle!"

"Hm. And Lord Fawful here. We must protect him!" Midbus stated.

"In that case… Do the thing!" Viverna demanded.

The castle lifted up from the ground, letting the Banzai Bill miss it.

"MUH MUH MUH!" Midbus laughed. "Make for the forest. Now!"

"Let's give that dumb turtle a little greeting to his castle!" Viverna smirked.

Bowser's Castle then flies out of Dark Land and makes its way to Dimble Wood.

Back at Dimble Wood, Corporal Paraplonk was the first one to spot the castle heading towards them.

"Uh, what? Call me crazy, but it looks like Bowser's Castle is heading this way!" he informed.

"WHAAT?!" Bowser yelled in unbelief.

We can see Bowser's Castle flying above the trees before stopping RIGHT above the area where Bowser was without him noticing. The castle then slowly begins to descend, panicking the Elite Trio while Bowser was just plain confused by the large shadow below him.

"Huh? It's dark out! Bedtime already?" he questioned. "…Huh. So what's this about my castle?"

"ABOVE YOU!" the Elite Trio yelled before scurrying off.

"What?" Bowser raised an eyebrow.

He tried to look up, but too late: in an instant, the castle crushes him.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

Shortly after the group heard a loud 'thud', they noticed that Bowser's body felt lifeless, which got them worried. Starlow flew up and called out:

"Hey! Everything OK up there?"

Nothing.

"Uh-oh, he's not answering. This is not good." Starlow flew down.

"Maybe it has something to do with that thud we just heard?" Luigi guessed.

"Probably. We better head to another area and investigate!"

They nodded and went all the way down to the Rump Command, located inside Bowser's tail. This area consists of a purple river and there were Evoglobins at the background. There were five boats floating on the river, each of them having a different colored cannon; red, green, lime-green, yellow and brown.

Upon their arrival, the heroes saw strange lifeforms forming themselves next to the boats and bowed down to the quintet.

"We beseech you to save the life of our host…" one of them spoke.

"We ask that you help the host Bowser recover…" the other one added.

"Did those things just talk?" Wario asked.

"We are Evoglobins… The evolution of Emoglobins… Transcendent spiritual forms…"

"We are Evoglobins… Waves of spirituality spawned us temporary arms and legs…"

"We carry with us a message of crisis for Bowser's life energy. We have awaited you in this sacred place, ever patient…"

"Board the boats of revival and ford the adrenaline channel."

"Boats of revival? That could possibly revive Bowser!" Starlow exclaimed.

"All right, then. Let's give it a shot." Mario said as he, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong boarded each of their boats with the cannons matching their respective colors.

The boats took them to the adrenaline channel, where they had to play another minigame by reviving Bowser with adrenaline. To do so, they had to shoot adrenaline orbs coming down towards them. The adrenaline orbs shared the same color as the cannons on their boats, and they had to be shot by the corresponding color. So that means Mario can only shoot the red ones, Luigi, the green ones, Yoshi, the lime-green ones, Wario, the yellow ones, and Donkey Kong, the brown ones. If a blue adrenaline comes down, all of the heroes had to shot at it together.

Once enough adrenaline was shot, a large blue adrenaline orb showed up and it flew at Bowser's chest.

"His energy sparked!" Starlow informed.

Finally, all they had to do was to shoot together a large blue adrenaline orb as it sends out more colorful adrenaline orbs at them. As the heroes continued to shoot at it, it gets bigger. Once the adrenaline grew big enough, it flew at Bowser's chest again.

"His energy spiked!" Starlow informed.

Just then, the whole place began to shake.

"Bowser's moving again!" Starlow finished.

Suddenly, the whole area began to increase in size, making our heroes appear even smaller by the second.

"Wait… WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Luigi's eyes widened.

"I feel like something big is about to happen…" Yoshi stated.

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

The castle also began to shake as it was slowly being lifted from the ground and we could see that Bowser's feet appear…larger than normal.

As the castle was being lifted up, dozens of Goombas were falling off.

"What? What is this?!" Viverna wasn't expecting that.

"The ca… The castle…" a Goomba gulped. "It's floating!"

 ***ROOOOOAAAR!***

We just hear Bowser's roar as he, now as a 50 ft. giant, throws the castle, sending it a few feet further away.

"Whuh—what is THAT?!" Midbus exclaimed in shock.

"It looks like Bowser… But far too big." Viverna eyed at Giant Bowser, glaring at his castle. "Whatever, let's give him a little surprise! RECON UNIT!"

The castle sends out an airship loaded with Shy Guys and cannons.

"You will deploy now. Identify that…thing." Midbus demanded.

"Leave it to us, Lord Midbus and Lady Viverna!" the Shy Guys replied and flew the airship towards Giant Bowser.

"You'll regret for betraying me! TAKE THIS!" Giant Bowser punches the airship hard enough to blow it up, sending all Shy Guys falling down.

"Well, that was a disappointment." Viverna rolled her eyes.

"You know, I expected that to happen anyways." Midbus said. "SEND THE SECOND UNIT!"

This time, three airships with one Shy Guy piloting each flew towards Giant Bowser.

"You want to feel the burn? Then HERE IT IS!" Giant Bowser teased before breathing fire at the three airships, blowing them up as well.

"ARGH! This is not working!" Midbus yelled in frustration. "ATTACK! ALL UNITS!"

More airships piloted by Shy Guys came out and were ready to shoot cannonballs at Giant Bowser. But before they were able to, Giant Bowser blew all of the airships by spitting fireballs at them.

After falling down, one of the Shy Guys rushed to the gates and reported to Midbus and Viverna:

"Lord Midbus… Lady Viverna… That huge thing…was…Bowser…"

"WHAAAT?!" Midbus yelled.

"Typical." Viverna scoffed. "He is stubborn, anyways. Launch full assault!"

The castle then finally flew close to Giant Bowser's range.

"About TIME you decided to engage me, huh?!" Giant Bowser spoke impatiently. He let out a smirk and said: "Well, let's see how good my castle can fight back!"

Giant Bowser approaches his castle and punches it, sending it sliding backwards. After reaching its range again, Giant Bowser breathes fire at it, and it also burnt the two Dry Bones standing at the battlements.

The castle then charges after Giant Bowser, only for him to counter with his punch. It then sent some Spinys from the gates, gathering in front of the castle, meaning that Giant Bowser cannot punch it. So instead, he breathes fire at it again, and all of the Spinys were also burnt out.

More airships came in to attack Giant Bowser with cannonballs. Giant Bowser knocked the airships by spitting fireballs, and punched the charging airships, sending them flying directly at the castle. Eventually, the castle becomes badly damaged and some Boos flew out. Giant Bowser then saw Midbus and Viverna coming out of the main tower.

"You have grown giant. As has your cheating!" Midbus growled.

"Instead of crying, why not get big too?!" Giant Bowser teased and breathes fire at them, but only Midbus was burnt; Viverna was able to retreat inside before she got fried.

"You are a coward. Return to normal size. Only then do I fight!" Midbus finished before heading back inside the castle.

The now wrecked castle then takes off again and flies back to Dark Land, where it supposed to be. Soon enough, some adrenaline came from within Giant Bowser, evolving him in a white light before shrinking back to normal. However, he was standing in midair, so you know what that means…

 ***THUD!***

"Urgh…" Bowser groaned. He slowly stands up and shakes his head. After being speechless for a bit, he speaks astonished: "Wow… Whoa! What was that all about?!"

" _Well, we were just trying to do something to revive your body and whatever we did made your body get huge."_ Mario explained.

"Really?! Well, it was awesome! Do it again, and I'll be able to crush Fawful like a bug!"

" _Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we can. Apparently it only works in dire situations…"_ Starlow said.

"Really. Well… Weak. Whatever. Even at this size, I can still take anyone! We'll be at my castle soon! And then it's payback time!"

Bowser once again made his way to his castle.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **And here we finally have the introduction to the first giant battle! Even though I've never played this game, I found this battle concept really awesome. But lucky me that I was able to experiment it on _Dream Team_ at least! It felt great!  
**

 **The group of heroes inside our villain is finally together as he is finally reaching his castle! Until the next chapter! Please review.**


	9. Mid-Bus Rivalry

**Done with the next chapter!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Mid-Bus Rivalry**

Upon exiting Dimble Wood, Bowser arrived at the Bumpsy Plains; a small grassy area located west of the woods, north of Cavi Cape, east of Blubble Lake and south-west of Bowser Path. It is filled with small patches of red flowers, pinecone-like landscapes, blocks, rocks, Flifits and Sneeds. The name obviously came from 'bump'; an area of skin that is raised up because you have hit it on something.

In order to reach his castle, Bowser had to travel to the northeast while slide punching blocks and rocks on his way. Once he reached the end of these plains, Bowser found an entrance to a road that leads to his castle: the Bowser Path.

This rocky road contains many conveyor belts and spikes, so the Sliding Punch is slightly appropriated. There was a Chain Chawful, a Chain Chomp who was mind-controlled by a parasite green Sworm, who tried to attack Bowser, but he managed to defeat it.

He continues onward, until he heard some faint voices:

"Huuuungry…"

"Want out now…"

Up ahead beyond the conveyor belts, there was a cage where many Shy Guys were trapped in.

"Baaack hurts…"

"So sick of standing."

"Where's our Bowser…"

Bowser made his way through the conveyor belts and destroyed the cage by punching it, setting all of the Shy Guys free.

"FREEEE!"

"King Bowser!"

"THANK YOOOU!"

"All right! C'mon, you guys!" Bowser said.

"Finally freeee!" one of the Shy Guys exclaimed.

"Our king rules!" another one spoke.

"Hey! What's with all the chatter?" Bowser asked as he tries to move back to the Shy Guys, but the conveyor belt was dragging him backwards. "The chatter! Quit it! Move it!"

"SHOO-RAH!" all of the Shy Guys cheered.

With that, the Shy Guy troop joined Bowser, allowing him to use a new attack in battle: the Shy Guy Squad. Bowser continues to head to his castle.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, in Bowser's Castle…**_

"My Lord Midbus! Bowser approaches!" a Goomba informed.

"MUH MUH!" Midbus laughed. "The clock strikes payback hour. Do plan two. To your posts!"

"Roger!" the two Goombas saluted and left.

* * *

 _ **Back with Bowser…**_

"Eh? What's with all this shaking?" Bowser questioned when the whole place around him began to shake.

He looked up and saw his castle once again taking off to the skies.

"Whatcha got now, huh?" he asked bitterly. "Not that it matters much! I WILL have my revenge!" he then proceeds to follow his castle.

Once he reached a dead end from outside of the path, he looked at his castle in the distance as he hears Midbus' laugh:

"MUH MUH MUH! Bowser crawls up like an innocent Koopa. Such is his courage." he smirked.

" _Koopa?_ " the two Goombas thought confused.

"You rang?" ironically, a Green Koopa walked in.

"I DID NOT! THAT WAS ONLY A COMPARISON!" Midbus yelled at the Koopa, who jumped in fright and scurried off. "Bowser! Next time, I punch your thigh bone, your eye bone, and your dry bone!"

" _Dry Bone?_ " the two Goombas thought confused again. Ironically again, a Dry Bones walked in.

"Ummmm… Did you call…"

"NO!" Midbus yelled before the Dry Bones could finish.

"Thought not…" the Dry Bones muttered before leaving.

"Bowser! Next time goes a different way than this way went." Midbus told Bowser.

"Learn to speak already! And then bring it on, chump!" Bowser growled.

"Hmph. I scoff. I scoff at you. You bluff. It is time. The special weapon of Lord Fawful. I will release it. SUPER ULTRA WONDER ULTIMATE RUTHLESS GREAT IRON BALL! HYAH!"

The Bowser head on the castle sunk and a cannon showed up. It then blasts a HUGE cannonball towards Bowser, but he rose his arms and grabbed it.

"GOOOOOH!" he struggled with the cannonball, trying to push it up. "I am NOT getting crushed by one of MY OWN cannonballs! Guys! Help me out again!" he called for the heroes inside his body.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Did you call for us, Bowser?" Mario asked.

" _YES! I'm right now struggling with a large cannonball! Hurry! Stimulate my muscles! And do it GOOD!"_ Bowser spoke.

"Alright! Let's hurry, guys!"

He and the gang rushed to the Arm Center and played the rhythmical minigame again. After completing it, Bowser successfully hurled the huge cannonball, and it hit the top of his castle, damaging it badly as it returns to its original spot on the ground.

"Hmph! Like that, chump?" Bowser scolded. " _But… My castle…_ " he thought as he looks at his damaged castle before growling: "It will be mine again!"

With that taken care of, Bowser walks to his castle.

* * *

Because Bowser's Castle has been taken over by Fawful, the interior was completely redesigned: there were golden Fawful statues at the entrance, many Bowser monuments had Fawful's glasses on the eyes, and the whole place pretty much feels like an entrance to a theater. Once Bowser entered the castle, some Goombas greeted him:

"WELLCOOOOME!"

"A guest arriiiiives!"

"Welcome, dear guest!"

"Guest!"

The Goombas approached Bowser as he spoke confused:

"Uh… Guest?"

"Welcome to Fawful Theater!" one of the Goombas welcomed. "Pleeease wait in the lobby! Soon the show will start!"

"Fuh… Fawful Theater?!" Bowser didn't believe that his castle was turned into a theater. "Don't joke with me! This is my castle!" but the same Goomba repeated the same phrase earlier, making Bowser even pissed: "HEY! IDIOTS! You KNOW me! Knock it off!" he breathes fire, blowing two of the Goombas away, but they came back.

They once again repeated the same phrase, and Bowser was now losing his mind:

"NNNGRRRRARGH! STOP SAYING THAT!" he does the same thing as before, but once again, the Goombas came back and spoke the same thing.

" _Oh, boy. Looks like trouble up there."_ Starlow said from inside Bowser.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Bowser asked, looking down at his stomach.

" _They won't listen to you. Fawful controls them now. They've been brainwashed."_

"Crud!" Bowser facepalmed. "Great. Not only did this guy take over my castle, but now he's all up in my minions too!"

" _For now, I think you ought to go in and have a look around."_

"Stupid Fawful! That guy is gonna PAY!" Bowser growled before deciding to explore around.

As he was listening to his own brainwashed minions' conversations, he heard that they no longer remember of him, which made him even angrier on the inside. But he decided to not express it and continues to explore.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

The double doors leading to the theater opened up, and a Goomba's voice came:

"Tonight's Fawful Show begins SOOOOOOOOON!"

"YES! FINALLY!" a Koopa shouted in happiness.

"That seat up front is mine!" a Dry Bones exclaimed.

Bowser then saw all of the Goombas, Koopas, Boos, Shy Guys and Dry Bones heading inside. He decides to follow them.

Inside, what used to be Bowser's Throne Room was now the stage itself. Unfortunately for our Koopa King, all of the seats were taken!

"There are NO seats left?!" he spoke in unbelief. He heads towards the Goombas at the door and calls: "HEY!"

"Yessss? What is it?" one of the Goombas asked.

"I have no seat!"

"Yes, take an open seat, pleeeease."

"There are NO open seats! Do something now!"

"Oh, dear guest, I feel for you, but there's naught I can dooo."

"Both of you, zip it! I AM KING BOWSER!"

"Is there a problem?" another Goomba's voice came as he walks in.

"Oh, Boss, phew! This guy…" the same Goomba from early spoke.

"So this big galoot here, right? He's all like, I have no seeeat! No seeat! And he won't shut up!" the other Goomba explained. "But he won't stop, and we're all, we just can't do it, buddy, OK? So we have no idea what to do. And this lug's getting surlier. He's not going away. And he has no seat! Nothing! Not a chance! So we do some solid thinking and totally fail. No big seats! I mean, we got small seats! And…" the Goomba began blabbing on, and once he finished, the two Goombas and even Bowser were speechless.

"Uh… Right. Gotcha." The Goomba Boss said. " _Whoa._ " He thought astonished since he never heard a Goomba talk so much. He turns to Bowser and continues: "Um… So the issue here is this guest lacks a seat?"

"I'm not a guest! I AM KING BOWSER!" Bowser yelled.

"Bowser? Aha! King Bowser! Of course! How stupid of me! I was just handed your name! Lord Fawful has arranged for special VIP treatment for you! Only the finest, of course! So, my dear King Bowser! Allow me to guide you to your special seat! This way, please!"

"Oh yeah? Really? The VIP treatment?"

"Prepare VIP SEEEEEEAT!"

Then, an opening on the floor opened up, revealing a seat made for Bowser that looked more like a throne.

"Bingo! Just perfect!" Bowser exclaimed. "That seat is pure Bowser!" he walks to the VIP seat and sits down.

In a second, the lights went out and the whole room became silent as a Goomba's voice came:

"And now, without further ado, THE FAWFUL SHOOOOOOOW!"

"I HAVE FAWFUL!" Fawful exclaimed as the stage lit up, and Fawful appeared on it. "Excited crowd! You feel it?" he waved to the crowd, who cheered to him. "Fawful is also feeling it! I am needing to feel it even more, though!" the crowd cheers louder. "MORE!" the crowd cheers even louder. "MOOORE!" the crowd cheers really loud.

"Ugh, they really know how to pop someone's eardrums…" Bowser grumbled after uncovering his ears.

"Oh, I am feeling the power! It high-fives Fawful's face! And now I will use that power to call our most special guest, who you will be cheering! Today's special guest… The famous KOOPA KING! BOWSER!" Fawful announced as all of the laser lights moved to Bowser, who looked around confused while the crowd was cheering.

Suddenly, the seat Bowser was on moved towards the stage really fast. Bowser flinched in surprise by that before he was launched out of his seat and slammed into the wall.

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" Fawful laughed. "It is an entrance of amazement! Like only a special guest does! Now a Midbus battle will unfold like an angry dip of many layers on the chips of wildest hopes!"

"Urgh…" Bowser stood up as he rubbed his head and noticed Fawful. "YOU! FAWFUL!" he roars and tries to slide punch him, but he dodged it.

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" Fawful laughed again. "COME! MIDBUS!"

Midbus then steps on the stage and engages Bowser.

"You have come. As I expected." He spoke. "Now it is time. Now we will fight! Then you will lose! And you will cry!"

"Really! You lugged yourself up onstage, huh? Nice! Now I can give these folks a REAL show!" Bowser said while cracking his knuckles.

Midbus charged for Bowser while swinging a wrecking ball, but Bowser was able to duck to avoid the wrecking ball and once Midbus stopped swinging it, Bowser proceeds to punch him in the face. Midbus tosses the wrecking ball at Bowser, but he sends it out with the spikes on his shell.

The crowd cheered for Midbus, offering him a large hot drumstick, but before he was able to eat it, Bowser used his vacuum ability to suck in the drumstick. This got Midbus furious and does a body slam at Bowser, but he ducked and his spikes hit Midbus.

Thanks to the drumstick he ate, Bowser's punch dealt more damage than before. The crowd then cheered for him this time and offers some coins to him. Midbus inflates his belly while walking towards Bowser. Bowser quickly does a series of punches on Midbus's belly before uppercutting him, and he fell on his back to the ground.

With Midbus struggling to get up, Bowser took the opportunity to finish him off with the Shy Guy Squad: he pulls out the Shy Guys and sent them back. Three groups of Shy Guys held both ends of a rope as Bowser curls into a spiked ball with the rest of the Shy Guys pushing him into the rope. Bowser then launches forward like a slingshot, hitting Midbus with great speed, finally knocking him out.

Two Goombas came to the stage and fetched Midbus. The Goombas dragged him offstage as Fawful steps to the middle and announces:

"And the winning is for… BOWSERRRR!"

The crowd went wild as Bowser laughed in glory:

"BWAHAHAHA! That's right! Lemme hear it! Keep those cheers coming! You remember me now, I bet! The unbeatable King Bowser!"

"Such a fight of fury!" Fawful remarked.

"SHUT IT!" Bowser yelled at him. "You think I forgot my castle?! Old pink was just a warm-up! Now I punt you outta here!"

"Oh, Fawful is leaving! But first! You had victory! Now the celebrate!"

"Celebrate?"

"Yes, at the magic feast of honor! COME! BOOS!"

"You rang?" a Boo's voice came.

Three Boos wearing red bow ties came into the stage and one of them spoke:

"Ah, our winner! The king, Bowser… Looks promising!"

"Heehee!" the other two chuckled.

"His belly cries out for the magic feast of honor!" Fawful said.

"We're on it, sir! This way, please, King Bowser!" the same Boo from earlier replied.

"Hmph! Seems suspicious, but you're going to such trouble…" Bowser spoke in a suspicious tone before laughing again: "BWAHAHAHA!"

The Boos then led Bowser out of the stage, with Fawful following behind.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **You probably already know what's going to happen next, right? But after all these chapters, the female guide of this remake will finally show up at the next chapter! Until then! Please review.  
**


	10. The Damsel of the Stars

**What a long chapter! But lots of interesting things will be mentioned here!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: The Damsel of the Stars**

The Boos guided Bowser to a room filled with all sorts of greasy and fattening foods like drumsticks, hot dogs and steaks. Bowser's eyes widened when he saw all of these foods:

"Whoa! Nice spread!"

"Yes, a victory feast! Please, we insist that you eat all you like!" one of the Boos said.

"Heehee!" the other two chuckled. They then left, leaving Bowser alone with the food.

"BWAHAHAR!" he laughed. "So many greasy, succulent, very unhealthy dishes! I've been craving this stuff like crazy! I'm gonna eat it all!"

Bowser then ate all of the food he was able to reach from the large table one by one. Once he was done eating, he was already full as he let out a belch:

"Uuuuurp… Oh, man… Getting kinda full…"

"Hmmmmm? Done eating?" one of the Boos came in. "But we went to great lengths to make King Bowser the most high-calorie, high-fat dishes! You love this stuff. So please! Eat more." It insisted as it and the other two started to push Bowser back.

"Nah, I'm sick of eating!" Bowser replied.

"Hush now, don't say that. Here! How about we just feed it to you! Please! We insist! This way!"

Later, two Boos were holding a plate of drumsticks and donuts. A Boo picked up a drumstick and flew towards Bowser as the same Boo from earlier said playfully:

"Open wiiiiide… Say aaaaah!"

Bowser did as he was told and ate the drumstick. Another Boo picked up a donut and flew towards Bowser as the same Boo from earlier once again said playfully:

"Here, have more… C'mon, open up!"

Bowser ate the donut, followed up by another drumstick, another donut, and so on until both plates had one of each food. Suddenly, Bowser started to become a little chubbier.

"Huurk! Did I just…put on a few pounds?" he questioned.

"Heehee! It's all in your head! Please, we insist, eat more!" the Boo insisted.

Bowser had no choice but to keep eating more donuts and once the plate of drumsticks was empty, the Boo brought a plate of slices of ham instead. Bowser continued to eat both foods until there were two of them remaining, where he got a bit fatter than before.

"Hey! Look at me! This isn't normal!" Bowser growled.

"Heehee! You're imagining things! You must keep eating, please!" the Boo insisted again.

Bowser then was forced to eat more and finished both plates. The Boos came back with a plate of more drumsticks and slices of cake. Once both plates had only one drumstick and one slice of cake, Bowser gains even more weight, and now his belly was round as a ball.

"Stop! You with the ham! No more! I can't take it!" Bowser panicked as he rose his now chubby hands in a 'stop' signal. "There's no denying it now! I'm nowhere near as svelte as I used to be! I'm chubby!"

"Yeah, you are! Heehee!" the Boo mocked. "It only makes sense! You eat so many of Lord Fawful's special high-calorie, high-fat dishes… Of course you'll gain weight!"

"Pretty impressive fat, though!" another Boo spoke.

"Yeah, you're a king of chub!" the other Boo added before all of them left.

"Hey! You jerks! You knew all along I'd get like this, and you kept cramming me with food!" Bowser said as he tries to go after the Boos.

However, he was so fat and heavy that once he took a simple step forward, the floor under him crumbled, and he fell through it, getting stuck. He tried to pull himself out, but no use.

"Haah… Haah… Haah…" he panted heavily. "Huh-hey! Guys! Can you hear me?"

" _Yes, we can hear you."_ Starlow answered. _"Looks like Fawful tricked you easy as you please!"_

"Sh-shut up! And after you shut up, turn me back to my usual trim self!"

" _So you really became fat?! Ahahahahahahaha! That's hilarious!"_ Wario laughed.

" _Said the guy who's also as fat as Bowser probably is now."_ Yoshi sassed.

" _Hey!"_

" _You know, Wario, you and Bowser should probably go on a diet."_ Mario said.

" _A diet?! Bleach!"_

"And I fell into the FLOOR, genius! I'm stuck! YOU do something!" Bowser demanded. "Burn off all this blubber!"

" _Hmmmm…_ _What to do… What to do… I guess we'll do something when we feel like it! YELLO GOOD-BYE!"_ Starlow finished.

"Hey! I'm serious! Do something!"

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Well, his sudden weight gain must have produced some changes in his body…" Starlow pondered. "Sounds like a perfect time to look for Princess Peach!"

"How do you know we'll locate her soon enough?" Luigi asked.

"I, uh… I don't know."

"MASTERS!" Toadsworth's voice came as he rushed to the group.

"Yes, Toadsworth, what is it?" Mario asked.

"I'm pleased that you located Toadbert, but where in the name of Toad is Toadiko?!"

"What?! She hasn't shown up yet?"

"No, she hasn't! I'm starting to get worried!"

"Calm down, Toadsworth. No need to panic. We'll do our best to find her."

" ***sigh*** thank goodness!"

"Wait! Guys!" Toadbert came to them. "I think I saw her at the newly opened area of Bowser's body, by boogity!"

"Wow! Perfect time indeed!" Starlow exclaimed surprised. "Let's hurry, then!"

The group nodded and went to the new area.

* * *

This area was the Flab Zone, located in Bowser's under belly, where all of the fat in his body is stored. Fat cells are shown in the background and the ground was mostly composed of the interior skin that could be walked on, at least for our heroes.

"Geez, there's so much fat in here!" Wario cringed.

"All of this is probably inside of you." Mario glared at him.

"Oh, shut up! But you also eat Italian food almost all the time!"

"Well, I do, but I also exercise myself by jumping a lot and playing many sports. That's how I burn calories. Not as much as Sonic, of course."

"Yeah, we all have to exercise to burn calories so that we won't get heart attacks." Donkey Kong said as they started to walk.

"Do riding a bike all the time count as an exercise?" Wario asked in a silly tone.

"NO!" Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Donkey Kong yelled in unison.

"Let's just go." Starlow sweatdropped.

They walked on ahead until they came upon a floor made out of squishy flab.

"Flab… That's nasty." Starlow cringed.

"They look jumpable…" Mario hops on the flab and it sprung him to the air like a trampoline. "Whoa, not only is Bowser fat, he's got a bouncy flab!"

Luigi then decides to bounce on the flab as well. "Woohoo! Look at me bounce!" he exclaimed happily.

"He really needs to lose weight, but hey, this is fun!" Yoshi chirped as he was bouncing on the flab.

Once they got out of the bouncy flab, some groups of Tenderlings, meat-shaped enemies, and Calorites, burning enemies referencing the term 'burning calories', attacked them. Just then, during the middle of the fight, some hand grabbed Luigi's arm and pulled him back without anybody noticing.

The figure, who was wearing a black hooded robe, dragged Luigi to the next portion of the area up ahead.

"W-What are you-…"

"Shh!" the figure shushed, interrupting Luigi. "Don't say anything! Just do what I say!" it spoke quietly.

"O-okey…" Luigi replied quietly.

* * *

 _ **Soon…**_

Once the heroes finally took care of the Tenderlings and Calorites, they noticed that Luigi was gone.

"Great, where did that green scumbag went off to?" Wario questioned.

"Sorry I left you worried!" Luigi came back. "Oh, are all the enemies gone?"

"Yes, so we should be able to proceed." Mario nodded as they moved on.

As soon as they arrived at the next portion of the area…

"EEEK!" they heard none other than Peach's shriek as a strange flying molecule was cornering her.

"Look! It's Peach!" Yoshi exclaimed in joy.

"Princess!" Mario and Luigi cheered.

Peach heard their voices and turns around. She was very surprised to see the quintet in here as she exclaimed:

"Oh! Boys! So Bowser inhaled you all as well!"

"Hi, Princess!" Starlow flew to her.

"Starlow! You too?"

"We've been looking for you high and low! What in the world happened? And what's that thing there?"

"I haven't the slightest idea! I was looking for the exit, and this thing attacked me…"

Suddenly, more of those molecules came in and enclosed Peach, trapping her!

"OH NO! PEACH!" Starlow shouted as the molecules carried Peach away.

"Those blobby things got her! We have to save the princess, everyone!" Mario spoke in a determined tone.

"Ego much?" Wario smirked.

"You bet!" Mario nodded while grinning. "After them!"

The heroes rushed to the next portion, and they found the molecules right up ahead next to a donut-block-like bridge.

"There they are!" Mario pointed, but the molecules fled.

"No! Come back!" Luigi chased after them, but he lost sight of them. "Oh, great…"

"Uh, Luigi… Watch where you're standing!" Mario warned.

"What?"

The donut-blocks started to fall into the mucus below as Luigi looked back and gasped in horror: "CRUD!"

Unfortunately, he was out of time to escape, and the donut-block that he was standing on fell in the mucus and he started to sink in.

"GAAAH! HELP!" he called out as he raises his hand while sinking in the mucus.

"LUIGI! NO!" Mario tried to reach for his hand, but too late; Luigi's hand fully sinks into the mucus. "Luigi…"

Just then, an odd laugh was heard from inside the mucus.

"What the…" Donkey Kong's eyes widened.

Then, a strange feminine white figure emerges from the mucus, carrying a treasure chest in her right hand and an unconscious Luigi in her left hand.

"Whoa!" Mario startled.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Wario flinched.

"Be not alarmed." The figure spoke in a gentle voice. "We are Princess Lipid. We rule o'er yon mucus membranes."

"Huh?" Mario raised an eyebrow.

"A lipid who controls mucus membranes? That doesn't make much sense…" Yoshi tilted his head.

"Thou hast dropped something in yon mucus pool, methinks." Princess Lipid guessed. Mario nodded. Princess Lipid did a small giggle before asking: "What hast thou dropped in our mucus pool? Mayhap 'twas this treasure of e'erlasting wonder?" she directs to the treasure chest. "Or mayhap thou hast dropped this shabby green mustachioed man?" she directs to Luigi.

"That would be the last option." Mario answered with honesty. "Besides, he's my brother. Even if the treasure you spoke of is interesting, my brother is what matters the most for me."

"Ah… The shabby green man is thy brother, and better than a treasure of e'erlasting wonder?" Princess Lipid asked. Mario nodded. "…Tee hee! Very well. We shall say that the shabby green man is what thou dropped!"

She then tosses Luigi into the air, who does a series of backflips and lands on his feet to the ground.

"Ta-da!" he does a pose while raising his hands in the air.

"Luigi!" Mario exclaimed, glad that his brother is okay. Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Wario smiled at that as they approached Luigi. Strangely enough, none of them noticed a familiar pink rose brooch attached to the left strap of Luigi's overalls…

"Hark! A landing to be lauded! Thine shabby brother is nimble!" Princess Lipid clapped. "To shabby, nimble green man and his loyal brother, we giveth the treasure of e'erlasting wonder!" she hands the treasure chest to Mario.

"Wow! Thanks!" he thanked.

"You're welcome! Thine treasure thy hold holds a special gift from a certain princess." Princess Lipid replied. "Honesty begets fortune… If ever thou findst our words to be true, remember us!" she went down into the mucus as she laughs. "Fare thee well!"

"Well, how about we check what's inside the treasure she gave us?" Luigi suggested.

"Sure!" Mario nodded as he opens up the chest. " _A gift from another princess? I wonder who she might be…_ "

What was inside the chest? A large brown meteor with a question mark printed in it!

"A meteor?" Mario was surprised.

"It is called the Mighty Meteor according to its description." Yoshi said.

Then, the chest started to wiggle a bit.

"Something else in there?" Starlow wondered.

Nothing but a Tenderling popped out of the chest right in front of their eyes!

"Ack!" everyone startled.

"You know what? Let me do this!" Yoshi wrapped his tongue at the Tenderling and ate it whole, to the gang's surprise. "Mmm… That was actually delicious! Tastes just like meat!" Yoshi licked his lips.

"Well, taking the fact that it IS a meat, mate." Donkey Kong pointed out.

"Alright, let's continue searching for Peach." Luigi said.

Everyone nodded and moved on.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

After wandering a lot in the Flab Zone, the group finally caught up with the molecules still holding Peach.

"There they are! Up there!" Mario pointed.

"Princess Peach is trapped inside! Save her!" Starlow insisted.

"We'll do!" Mario assured.

They jumped up the mushroom-like platforms, walked towards the molecules as Starlow approached, and inspected them before warning:

"Listen, guys… Be careful! I don't think any attack will shake them off… We have to think of some other way to get rid of them…"

"Simple! Luigi, let's do our Spin Jump!" Mario grinned.

"Oh yeah!" Luigi nodded.

The Bros did their Spin Jump at the molecules and one by one, they flew off. They continued spinning until all of the molecules scurried off, freeing Peach, who collapses on the ground.

"Peach… Are you okay?" Mario asked with worry as he kneels down to her.

Peach slowly opened her eyes and stands up.

"What in the world…" Peach breathed.

"Princess Peach! You're okay!" Starlow exclaimed.

"…Ah! You all saved me! Thank you so much!"

"Uh, guys…" Luigi spoke nervously as he points up ahead. "THEY'RE COMING BACK!"

Everyone looked back and saw six of those molecules coming back in an odd pattern. Just then, some white outlines appeared from them, creating a single body with arms and feet called Alpha Kretin.

"Oh my goodness!" Peach shouted in horror.

Alpha Kretin did a screech as it was slowly approaching them.

"OK, everyone! Let's stop them!" Mario said determined as he stood in his fighting stance.

"Right! I'll guard the princess!" Starlow replied.

"No, let me guard her!" Luigi insisted.

"What? Luigi, YOU want to guard the princess?" Starlow questioned.

"Yes." Luigi nodded.

"VERY FUNNY!" Starlow hissed.

"But I-…"

Starlow knocked Luigi towards the Alpha Kretin before he could finish. Luckily, he was able to avoid getting hit by it.

The heroes noticed that some Kretins had different colors: two were red, one was green, one was lime-green, one was yellow and two were brown.

"Why are they all in different colors?" Yoshi wondered.

"Hmm… I think we need to hit the ones that matches our colors!" Luigi told them.

"How'd you know that, Luigi?" Mario asked.

"Eh, I just figured it out." Luigi shrugged.

" _Luigi is acting so suspicious… I wonder why?_ " Mario thought suspiciously before jumping on the red Kretins.

Luigi hit the single green Kretin, who was at the bottom, with his hammer, followed up by Yoshi's Egg Throw at the lime-green Kretin, Wario throwing a Bob-omb at the yellow Kretin, and Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong at the two brown Kretins.

Alpha Kretin materializes a cannon on its right arm and shoots large blue orbs at the heroes, but they countered back with their strongest direct attacks. After that, all of the Kretins turned purplish-blue and disintegrated into Beta Kretins.

The Beta Kretins arranged in a circle around the heroes and one of them glowed blue. The one on the opposite side glowed blue as well and the two glowing Kretins formed an electric laser. The heroes payed attention to the Beta Kretins to avoid that attack by jumping.

Now they had to destroy all of the Kretins to prevent them from becoming Alpha Kretin again. Mario and Luigi stomped two of them, Yoshi performs a Yoshi Bomb at another, Donkey Kong headbutts another and Wario does a Butt Smash (from _Mario Strikers Charged_ ) at another one.

However, all of the Kretins that they defeated were 'fake', as the 'real' Kretin changes back into its Alpha Kretin form.

"Not again!" Wario said frustrated.

Now there were only red and green Kretins, which means only Mario and Luigi could attack them. But in order to take all of them at once, they'll need a Bros Attack, which means…

"Time to use the Mighty Meteor!" Mario pulls out the meteor he obtained from the treasure chest.

Mario tosses the meteor into the air as he and Luigi brought out their hammers. The meteor falls down towards Luigi, who hit it with his hammer to send it at Alpha Kretin. The meteor went into the air and falls down towards Mario this time. He hits it at Alpha Kretin with his hammer, and the meteor flies off again. They continued the volleying until Alpha Kretin explodes.

When the meteor hit the ground, it cracked and a Star Candy came out.

"What's this?" Mario picks up the Star Candy.

"It's a Star Candy. It can recover health and energy." Luigi explained.

"Wait! How do you know that? You and I never saw this item before!" Mario stated. "Are you feeling okay, Luigi?"

"What? I'm fine, bro!"

"Well, what matters is that we saved the princess." Yoshi said.

"Fair point." Mario replied.

"Everyone! Thank you!" Peach thanked. "I knew you'd save me."

"It's a pleasure, Peach." Donkey Kong grinned.

"Listen, Princess Peach… Bowser inhaled everyone. They're all inside his body…" Starlow explained.

"Well, in that case, we must find a way for all of us to escape." Peach spoke.

"I don't think it will be easy. Especially when trying to escape from someone's body…" Luigi shook his head.

"Well… What to do…" Peach pondered.

"Gosh… Up to now, all I was thinking about was finding Princess Peach…" Starlow facepalmed. "But now we really need to find a way out of here…"

"I can see another room up ahead." Wario pointed.

"Maybe that could be a great start…" Starlow stated. "Let's not waste any more time!"

Everyone went up ahead to the next room. Of course, they're out of luck: there was no way out.

"Hmm… There's nothing but dead ends here… Not an exit to be seen…" Peach pondered.

"Oh…" Starlow breathed. "Well, again we play the waiting game for some bodily change…"

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

"NNNGRRRFF!" Bowser was still trying to get out of the hole, but no success. "Heff heff haah…" he panted. "Some king I am… Stuck in my own floor… Struggling like a baby…" but then… "Hey! What's that? I'm all tickly! Feels weird…"

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" suddenly, Fawful's laugh came from nowhere.

Turns out that he, Midbus and Viverna were at the basement right under Bowser's location, with Fawful using a laser gun to blast some sort of ring lasers at Bowser's rump.

"First, your beating of Midbus! And then, the chubbening with the special dishes of tastiness!" Fawful smirked. "All in my master planning!"

"That voice… Fawful!" Bowser growled.

"Muh muh muh! He is very round. I am amused!" Midbus said.

"YOU SHUT YOUR FACE! What're you doing down there?"

"Oh, I have such chortles! There was a slight changing to my perfect plan!" Fawful replied.

"Plan?!"

"Yes, Fawful said 'plan'."

"A plan of you, Bowser, inhaling Peach and her five defenders, sending the Mushroom Kingdom into Lord Fawful's hands!" Viverna explained. "But now for the changing. He needs the princess of the stars, the one who helps granting wishes, who's also trapped inside you!"

"What?! What princess?!" Bowser asked.

"We're talking about Princess Melissa, princess of the Star Realm, a land where the star people watches over the Mushroom World and its residents!"

"WHAT?! Are you serious?!"

"Fawful tells you yes." Fawful responded. "So right now I am needing the princess right this instant!"

"Are you insane?!"

"Come out for the playing, Melissa! Come to Fawful!"

Fawful then makes the energy from the laser gun stronger, hurting Bowser in the process.

"GWAAAAACK!" he screamed in pain.

* * *

 _ **Back inside…**_

"...Princess Melissa? Who in the world is she?" Starlow questioned.

"I can show you." Luigi spoke.

"You?" Mario raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Watch this."

Luigi stepped in front of the group, and they watched him pulling out a pink rose from his pocket. He held the rose close to his chest and it glowed pink. The glow enveloped his whole body, creating a bright white light. Once the white light faded, what stood there was a princess that looked familiar to Mario.

"I am Princess Melissa, ruler of Star Realm." She spoke.

" ***gasp*** no way!" his eyes widened.

"You know her?" Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario and Starlow asked in unison.

"Yes! I, Luigi, Sonic, Tails and our younger selves met her in the past in our previous adventure!" Mario explained.

"Oh, that makes sense." Starlow pointed out.

"Wait, if that Luigi was Melissa, then where's the real Luigi?" Yoshi asked.

"Oh, he's right here." Melissa directed behind her, and Luigi showed up at one of the mushroom-shaped platforms.

"Hey there!" Luigi waved. "Melissa pulled me during our battle against the Tenderlings and the Calorites and told me to get into the mucus so that she would take my place."

"Wait… So you fell into the mucus on purpose?" Mario asked.

"That's right." Melissa nodded. "Let me start all over from the beginning. You see, I've been accompanying you all while in different disguises." She shows the rose that she used to remove her disguise. "This is my Magical Rose. It allows me to transform into anyone I want. But I can only transform into one different person for one day, so I can't transform into the same person I've already turned into more than two times. This rose is also the key for me to access a shortcut to Star Hill. Now you see, about Toadiko… I was her the whole time."

"Really?!" all of the boys and Starlow's eyes widened.

"Yep, the real Toadiko was never inhaled inside Bowser." Melissa shook her head. "I'll tell you my whole journey…"

Some flashback scenes played in as Melissa starts to explain:

" _When I heard about the news of the Blorbs, I went to Princess Peach and told her that if anything goes wrong, we would plan something together. After that, I left Peach's Castle while wearing my black robe so that nobody could recognize me and went to Dimble Wood. There, I hid in the bushes and watched Fawful tricking Bowser in eating a Vacuum Shroom. Once Bowser started to inhale everything, I desperately fled the woods and rushed back to Toad Town."_

The scene shifts to Melissa approaching the castle's gates and she pulled out her Magical Rose for the first time.

" _At the castle's gates, I used my Magical Rose to disguise myself as Toadiko. You remember that you guys saw Toadiko warning you about Bowser coming into the castle, right? That was actually me warning you all. Unfortunately, I ended up getting sucked by Bowser."_

The scene shows Melissa, as Toadiko, waking up at Toad Square.

" _I woke up in Toad Square and I woke up all of the Toads who have landed in there. During your journey of finding the rest of your friends, I was disguised as Toadiko the whole time. Until, when I and Toadbert left to explore the Nerve Cluster, we ended up getting separated. And that's where when I noticed you coming, I removed my Toadiko disguise and disguised as Toadbert."_

Next, the scene shows the moment when Melissa dragged Luigi to the next room of the Flab Zone.

" _After being unrecognizable for so long, I think it was finally time to reveal myself. So I snuck out of Toad Square in my Toadbert disguise as soon as Bowser got chubby, and removed my disguise once I arrived at the Flab Zone. When you were fighting the enemies, I dragged Luigi to the next room and told him that I reasoned with Princess Lipid and stored a treasure containing a gift that I made for you. Once I disguised as him, I requested him to fall into the mucus after I dove in first so that Princess Lipid would pull me out instead."_

The scene shifts back to the group.

"…then I accompanied you all in the rest of the Flab Zone as Luigi, and that's pretty much it." Melissa finished.

"Wow…" Mario was astonished by that story.

"That's where I finally discovered why that Toadbert we saw at the Nerve Cluster was wearing the same rose brooch as Toadiko!" Luigi concluded. "Because that was Melissa in disguise!"

"Boy, why in the world did we never notice that the fake Luigi had the same brooch?" Yoshi facepalmed.

"THAT'S why you knew about how to beat the Alpha Kretin and how you knew about the Star Candy!" Mario confirmed.

"Mmhm. The Star Candy is the star people's favorite food. And the Mighty Meteor was a gift from me, but you probably already knew that." Melissa smiled. "I crafted it by myself. Also, I'm really glad we were able to meet again since your last adventure."

"Yes. You weren't kidding when you said you had immortality."

"Hold on a minute! I don't get it; why were you disguising yourself as different people to begin with?" Starlow asked Melissa.

"Starlow, I did that… To hide myself from Fawful." Melissa answered in a saddened tone.

"Yes… Melissa is being hunted." Peach threw in.

"But…why?"

"Because Fawful is looking for the Dark Star…" Melissa replied.

"Dark Star?" Starlow and the boys raised an eyebrow.

"Allow me to tell you its story. Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, Starlow… This may shock you…"

Melissa begins to tell the story of the Dark Star:

 _Long, long ago, a star sleeping deep below the Mushroom Kingdom was dug up… It was not benevolent. It was a frightful star that hid a great evil… The Dark Star. Upon being released, the Dark Star went on a rampage, attacking Toad Town while desperately seeking the seven legendary individuals known as the Star Children._

 _It was said that if an evil entity find the Dark Star and manages to make it absorb the power of all the seven Star Children, the entire world would plunge into darkness… That evil-hearted entity would rule the world…_

 _Fearing that, the Star Sprites, one of the residents of the Star Realm who watches over the people of the Mushroom World, sacrificed much over many years... They sealed the Dark Star deep under the earth in Toad Town…_

The story ends and shifts back to the group.

"With that, only the star people know the tales of the Dark Star and the Star Children for today. Nevertheless, right after the Dark Star was sealed, some few individuals in the Mushroom Kingdom knew about the existence of the Dark Star and the Star Children. After many years have passed, these stories were forgotten and became legends." Melissa finished.

"Golly…" Luigi was astonished.

"Aha! No wonder that Fawful is trying to find the Dark Star!" Starlow confirmed. "Wait… Who are these Star Children that you mentioned?"

"The Star Children are seven individuals that possess an extraordinary amount of power. This is because when they were born, seven Magical Stars, the most powerful and rarest stars to ever be born in Star Haven, fell from the skies and landed inside those children. These seven stars were so powerful that if one collects all of them, then the owner would rule the world. Those children already possessed those stars ever since they were newborns. Today, these stars are sleeping deep inside those individuals' hearts, and their power can only be activated when either the ruler of the stars, which is me, or a Star Sprite offers their blessing for that individual, and a golden aura should appear around his or her body." Melissa explained.

That's where Mario remembered back at the conference when a golden aura surrounded Peach when Starlow gave her blessing.

"Hold on! So the reason Peach glowed in a golden aura when Starlow gave her blessing to her back then is because…" Mario started.

"Because Peach is one of these seven Star Children." Melissa finished.

"Wow…"

"Oh… Well, we now know one of them. But there are still six more…" Luigi said.

"And collecting all of the stars would make its owner rule the world… No doubt that the Dark Star was hunting for them so badly." Mario concluded. "…But why would Fawful need you, Melissa? I mean, it's not THAT easy to break the seal."

"No one can break the seal on the Dark Star sleeping beneath Toad Town… Except me!" Melissa answered in a distressed tone.

This made the five boys and Starlow gasp in complete shock.

"OH NO! THAT REALLY DOESN'T SOUND GOOD!" Yoshi panicked.

"No… If Fawful's going to use the power of the Dark Star and the Star Children, this world will not be the same!" Mario lamented. He then clenches his fist in anger. "We have to find a way to stop Fawful from reviving the Dark Star before it's too late! So what do you say, guys?" he turned to his friends.

"Yeah!" Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Wario nodded.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible…" Melissa sighed in sadness. "Stopping Fawful's plan right now will be impossible, but we can delay it."

"Really? How?" Starlow asked.

"That's where my and Peach's plan arrives. I'll use my rose to disguise as Peach, and then I'll pluck one of the rose's petals and hand it to Peach so that she could transform into me. So if this works, Fawful might take Peach instead of me."

"What?! No! We're not going to lose Princess Peach again!" Starlow refused.

"Look, Starlow, I know you're worried about Peach, but we have to do it! It's better for her to be taken right now instead of me."

"Oh… I guess you're right, Princess Melissa." Starlow replied; they had no other choice. "Please, Princess Peach… Take care." She flew to Peach.

"I will, Starlow." Peach assured.

"OWOWOWOWOW!" suddenly, they heard Bowser's scream as the whole place started to shake.

"W-What's going on?!" Luigi panicked.

Then, the shaking stopped.

"Whoa! What was that loud noise?" Yoshi wondered.

"I believe it's time…" Melissa said. "Fawful must be searching for me. Time to execute our plan." She turns to Peach. "Ready, Peach?"

"Ready." Peach nodded.

Melissa then used the power of her Magical Rose to turn into Peach. She then plucked a petal from the rose and tossed it to Peach, who caught it and transformed into an image of Melissa herself.

"Now let's head to the next room and hope our plan works." Melissa spoke in Peach's voice.

They all nodded and went up ahead. There, they saw a strange white light above them.

"What's this light?" Starlow asked.

"I think it's Fawful's weapon trying to locate me." ***Melissa** answered.

Then, the white light came down a little bit and a yellow hand showed up.

" _Oh please, let it work…_ " ***Melissa** thought with hope in her heart.

The hand then started to move to the right while pointing downwards, where the five boys were.

"Eh? What's it doing?" Luigi raised an eyebrow.

"I believe it's searching for Melissa…" Mario answered quietly.

The hand then moves to the left, where Starlow, ***Peach** and * **Melissa** were. To * **Melissa** 's relief, the hand moved past her. However, the white light went for ***Peach** and the hand grabbed and disappeared with her.

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

"YURRRRRRGH!" Bowser screamed in pain as he felt something coming out of him from his bottom.

The white light came out of Bowser's rump…and it landed on Fawful, now struggling with ***Peach** 's weight on his back.

"Gah… Hah… Haaah…" Bowser panted after experiencing the pain he felt.

"Such ruh-rounded chubbening on your buh-body, Bowser! Buh-but Fawful gave you the Puh-Princess Melissa diet!" Fawful exclaimed while struggling with the weight on his back. " _Huh-heavy…_ " he thought while sweatdropping.

"WHAAAAAT! This guy, I swear!" Bowser growled.

"And nuh-now! All preparations have cuh-completion! At the long last, we buh-begin the fuh-furious Age of Fawful! Duh-don't worry, Buh-Bowser! Suh-soon Fawful will be back for yuh-you!"

Midbus and Viverna brought some sort of treadmill and placed it right under Bowser.

"Buh-Bowser! You are needing to huh-hit the gym!" Fawful finished as he starts to walk, but he had difficulties because of the extra weight. "Huh-heavy… Muh-Midbus! Help!"

"Huh. You may be my boss, but I ain't carrying that!" Midbus scoffed before he and Viverna walked away.

"Midbus! Viverna! Come! MIDBUS! VIVERNA!" Fawful called for them, but they were already gone, and so he had to carry ***Peach** all by himself.

Eventually, Bowser fell down to the basement and landed right on the treadmill as it started to move by itself.

"Whuh?!" Bowser started to move his legs on the treadmill involuntarily. "Huff… Whuff… What in the—Legs running by themselves!" the treadmill begins to move faster. "Slow down! Too faaaaaaast!" the treadmill moves even faster. "Noo—WHOOAA!" as he moves and moves over time, Bowser's body begin to catch on fire and also starts to lose weight. "Really feeling the burn! Smelling the burn too! Wait… Is that ME?! Am I on FIRE?!" just a few seconds later, Bowser's weight was back to normal. "Whoa! My chub layer! It's all burning up! I'm a MACHINE! BWAHAHAHAHA! Best workout ever!"

Once he was fully back to normal, Bowser jumped off the treadmill, still on fire.

"Hey, now that I think about it, what room is this?" he wondered.

He saw a sign nearby and decided to read it. Unknown to him, he accidentally lit a Bob-omb's fuse.

"What's this thing say… 'BOB-OMB STORAGE DEPOT OPEN FLAMES FORBIDDEN! HIGH EXPLOSIVE DANGER!' …Crud." Bowser read the sign.

Then, he heard a sparking noise and turned to the right, only to see the lit Bob-omb walking towards MANY Bob-omb crates.

"GAAAAH! WAIT! WAIT! WAAAIIIIIIIIIT!" Bowser panicked.

Too late: the Bob-omb jumped inside one of the crates, lit more Bob-ombs in a chain reaction, and…

 ***BOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Bowser screamed as he was launched straight out of his castle through the roof.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Surprise! The female guide of this story is Princess Melissa, the one who also showed up in my Partners in Time story! If you read my Super Paper Mario story, you might remember that I gave her shape-shifting powers, but it was never explained how she does that, so I added a Magical Rose to make this the item she uses to shape-shift.**

 **Also, note that I added the '*' symbol and bold on Melissa and Peach's names near the end of the chapter. I added that to show that they're in a different body to avoid confusion. And note that every time Melissa disguises as someone else, she'll always speak in that current character's voice.  
**

 **Finally, I wanted Melissa to be the one who can break the seal on the Dark Star so that not only it makes much more sense (since she's related to the star people) but it is also to make Peach not being the key character for the third time. Think about it: in Superstar Saga, Cackletta needed Peach's voice to awake the Beanstar, and in Partners in Time, the Shroobs are on a rampage against Peach since she was the one who imprisoned the Elder Princess Shroob. For me, this** ** **excuse of Peach being kidnapped in these games** is getting way too cliché, so I decided to change things a little bit.**

 **Now that we finally know about the Star Children's importance and Fawful's true goal, what will our heroes do next? Find out in the next chapter! Please review.**


	11. Finally out!

**Another twist compared to the original game will happen in here too!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Finally out!**

Bowser flew all the way back to Cavi Cape and fell inside a large hole in the ground.

 ***THUD!***

"Ow…my achin…" he groaned as he slowly got up. "Where…is this?"

Turns out that he landed in the Cavi Cape's Underground Tunnel. He decides to explore this place to find a way out.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, inside Bowser…**_

While Bowser was wandering around in the Underground Tunnel, Mario and Co. exited the Flab Zone and decided to head to the Challenge Node, located probably in Bowser's spleen. The walls were green, the ceiling was made of bones and the floor could be the spleen's tissue. The walls were also decorated with balloon-like objects. The heroes chose to head here so that they could talk in person with Melissa, still disguised as Princess Peach.

"Okay, now tell us more about the seven Star Children." Mario started. "First, do you know who they are?"

"Well, I do know who they are, but I can't tell you, unfortunately." ***Melissa** shook her head.

"What?! Why?" Starlow asked.

"Because there's a law in the Star Realm which says that none of the star people can reveal the identity of all of the Star Children at once."

"Hmm… So I guess we have no choice but to discover the other six by ourselves. But for now on, let's return to Fawful. Why is he after the Dark Star so badly?"

"He already knew about the Dark Star's tale, but not too much of the Star Children's tale. Because of that, he only knows five of the seven Star Children, but he doesn't know the remaining two." ***Melissa** explained.

"He knows five of them already?!" Luigi's eyes widened.

"Yes. And being a close relevant to the star people, the Dark Star is the only one besides all of the star people who knows who the Star Children are."

"So because of that, Fawful wants to revive the Dark Star as soon as possible so that it could lead him to the other two he doesn't know, right?" Mario guessed.

"That's absolutely correct."

"I knew it was too good to be true… His plan makes so much sense now!" Mario clenches his fist in anger.

"At least this plan is delayed, so that could give us enough time to try to chase after him." Yoshi stated.

"Hellooo? Dino Brain, we're still trapped inside Bowser, did you forget?" Wario sassed.

"Oh…right."

"In the meantime, why don't we focus on the Blorbs? All of the Toads who were affected aren't still cured, remember?" ***Melissa** suggested. "We could try to ask Dr. Toadley about this cause. He shouldn't be too busy at this moment."

"Good point. But until we get out of Bowser's body, we'll just have to wait." Luigi said.

Just then, they heard a faint noise.

"What's that noise?" Luigi asked.

"It sounds like a drill… At least that's what I think." Donkey Kong guessed.

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

"C'mon, bro! We've made ZERO progress in forever! Beef up that drill power again, will ya?" a Monty Mole spoke once Bowser arrived in a room where one of the Monty Moles was trying to dig out of the Tunnel with a drill machine. However, it was not moving at all.

"I'm maxing it out right now, broski!" the Monty Mole piloting the drill replied.

"Keep at it, broham! Gotta get it done!" another Monty Mole encouraged.

"We're a force of nature handpicked by Bowser!" another one said. "Bros do NOT get defeated by some stupid dirt wall!"

"Hey! What's going on?!" Bowser asked.

"Buh-Bowser?!" the Monty Mole next to the entrance was surprised. "Buh-bros! Take five!"

Soon, all of the Monty Moles gathered in front of Bowser and explained everything to him.

"Yeah, so our secret tunnel mission is going super smooth!" the far left Monty Mole said.

"Secret tunnel?! First I heard of it!" Bowser replied.

"Remember, bro—I mean, Bowser? You wanted an escape tunnel for kidnapping Peach?" the far right Monty Mole asked.

"The big tunnel project… You named it Project K!" the middle-right Monty Mole exclaimed. "And you handed it off to us, the Monty Bros, because we rule dirt!"

"Hmm, I guess I remember something like that." Bowser pondered. "But you guys don't rule squat! I was just watching you chumps, and you're getting nowhere! You're total slackers!" he spoke sternly at them.

"I-I-I… Look, sorry, brogurt!" the far left Monty Mole apologized nervously. "We're all lined up to connect to Toad Town if we go straight through here, but…"

"Broyo, this dirt is crazy hard! It's a dead end, I kid you not!" the middle-left Monty Mole added.

"Wait, we can connect to Toad Town through here?!" Bowser asked.

"Yeah, broham! Straight through there!" the middle-right Monty Mole answered.

"Nice! Then get on it! Make with the digging!"

"But, bro, the dirt's so hard…" the middle-left Monty Mole excused.

"Oh, WAAH! Some minion you are! Fine, I'll do it myself!"

With that, the Monty Mole controlling the drill went to the wall while Bowser was pushing the machine's back with all his strength.

"You, uh… You sure about this, bro?" the middle-left Monty Mole sweatdropped.

"HRRRRNNGH!" Bowser struggled to push the drill machine.

Eventually, another area of Bowser's body begin to react.

" _Going the brute force route again, I see…"_ Starlow spoke.

"Guys! I require some of your help here! I need more strength in my legs!" Bowser requested.

" _Alright, we'll do it. Hang in there!"_ Mario assured.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Strength in his legs… I suppose we'll have to head inside the base of both of his legs to stimulate their muscles." ***Melissa** said.

The group nodded and went to the new area, the Leg Outpost. As Melissa said, it is located at the base of both Bowser's legs, as both of his legs' muscles are present, doing contractions. We can also see the hip joint and the very last bones of the vertebral column right at the entrance.

"Let's stimulate Bowser's muscles to fire him up!" Starlow said.

"Yeah!" Mario nodded.

He then grabbed Luigi's hands and held him upside down above his head as they jumped on the right muscle, but it was not enough to stimulate it.

"Hmm, just jumping is not enough to get these muscles going…" ***Melissa** pondered. "I guess the one on the bottom must stomp on the muscle really hard."

Mario then crouches his legs as hard as he could once he landed on the muscle. With that, the muscle shrunk down while liberating sparks of energy, and it sprung the bros in the air, making them switch places while heading to the left muscle. Because of that, it was Luigi's turn to stomp the left muscle, and the same thing happened again.

After some more alternating stomps, the brothers let go of each other and landed on each muscle, stomping both of them at the same time. This caused Bowser to dash forward with the drill machine, creating a tunnel, leaving the Monty Moles with their jaws dropped.

The Mario Bros continued this minigame until Bowser finally bursts out of the tunnel and arrived at the Toad Town Caves, sending the drill machine flying to the other side of the wall.

"Bwahahahahahahaha! Got a little carried away!" Bowser laughed. He then looks around. "So is this Toad Town?!"

He walks inside the corridor, leading him to a circular chamber with a blue lightning bolt printed on the ground and some suspicious bright orange orbs. As soon as he reached the middle of the room, an alarm activated. Turns out that this was the security system to prevent intruders for reaching the Dark Star, so it was probably built by Fawful.

" _NO TRESPASSING! NO TRESPASSING! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY! NO TRESPASSING! NO TRESPASSING! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!"_ the alarm's voice yelled.

"Hey! Pipe down!" Bowser growled.

" _NO TRESPASSING! NO TRESPASSING! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY! NO TRESPASSING! NO TRESPASSING! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!"_

All of a sudden, the orbs released electricity at Bowser, electrocuting him.

"GIGGAGIGGAGOW!" he yelled in pain before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

"… _What just happened? What was that noise?"_ Starlow asked. _"Hey! You OK?"_

They waited for a little bit, but Bowser didn't respond.

" _He's not responding…"_ Yoshi pondered. _"I wonder what happened…"_

" _We'd better walk around a bit and see what's what."_ ***Melissa** suggested.

* * *

 _ **Back inside Bowser…**_

The gang looked around Bowser's body for very long, until they came upon an area that they've never been to: the Pipe Yard. This area is probably located in Bowser's ear. It has many different colored pipes, each of them connecting to different locations all over the Mushroom Kingdom. As soon as the group walked in, they spotted a fallen red pipe, making them able to explore this area.

"Golly, what's with all these different pipes?" Luigi wondered.

"All the pipes Bowser inhaled piled up in this room!" Toadbert's voice came.

"Huh? Toadbert?" Mario saw Toadbert up ahead.

"Mario! By boogity!" Toadbert exclaimed. "That last shock opened up deeper byways in Bowser's body!"

"So Bowser got electrocuted somehow? That explains the loud noise." Starlow pointed out.

"According to my calculations, these pipes should take us to different places of the Mushroom Kingdom. If we use these, we can get out, by boogity!"

"REALLY?!" everyone except Toadbert's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yep! Hurry! Get in this pipe!" Toadbert directs to a purple pipe right behind him.

"Alright! See ya!" Mario waved as he and his friends dashed towards the pipe as fast as Sonic and jumped in.

"Wow… They really can't wait to get out of Bowser's smelly body…" Toadbert snickered.

* * *

 _ **Outside, at the caves…**_

Mario and Co. came out of the same purple pipe that led them inside Toad Town Tunnel and looked around.

"YES! FINALLY! Freedom at last!" Luigi exclaimed as he lifts his hands in the air.

"Gosh, finally we're out of that smelly body!" Wario exclaimed.

"Yeah! I thought we'd never see the light of the day again!" Yoshi chirped.

"Even though we're not seeing it right now…" Donkey Kong stated.

"Hmm… I wonder where we are? Somewhere underground…" Starlow inspected the area.

"I believe we're at the Toad Town Caves, where the Dark Star was sealed…" ***Melissa** said.

"Oh! That's it! Your story!"

" _I have chortles!"_ just then, they heard Fawful's faint laugh.

"You guys hear that?" Starlow asked.

"We did! Fawful's nearby!" Mario spoke while glaring at the wall where the voice came from.

"Talk about a dilemma! Fawful has Peach… And he's looking for the Dark Star!" Starlow replied.

"Well, we should be glad that he doesn't have Melissa. Otherwise, we'll be in trouble." Yoshi pointed out.

"Yeah, but even that, we have to find Fawful and maybe take Peach back!" Mario told them.

Everyone nodded and went forward to explore. They ended up battling strange enemies that resemble Mario and Luigi's noses and mustaches called Noozes throughout the way. They eventually reached the same room where Bowser was electrocuted.

"Is that Bowser…?" Luigi breathed as they approached him.

"Wow, and we were just inside his body… Weird." Wario remarked.

"I wonder what happened that made him faint…" Starlow wondered.

Suddenly, the same alarm activated and its voice yelled again:

" _NO TRESPASSING! NO TRESPASSING! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY! NO TRESPASSING! NO TRESPASSING! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!"_

"Uh oh! RUN!" Luigi shouted in panic as they ran out of the room and watched Bowser being electrocuted again:

"GIGGAGIGGAGOW!"

"…That explains it." Wario sweatdropped.

"A security system, huh…" Starlow pondered. "If we try to go through there, we'll get toasted like Bowser."

"So we'd better go see if we can find a different route." ***Melissa** said.

* * *

 _ **A while later…**_

They walked in the sewers part a lot and fighting Fawful-like ants called Fawflants. They also came to learn how to use blue shells to activate levers that move bridges in order to move on. Once they finally open up a door by using Shell Mario, they were greeted by two Toads blocking the way ahead.

"Mario! Princess Peach! Listen, sorry, but even you aren't allowed in here." One of the Toads spoke. "Because something really, really, really important is stored here."

"Yeah, the Dark Star, right?! Listen! Did Fawful pass by?" Starlow asked.

"Fawful? Who's that?" the other Toad asked.

"Something's off… Isn't it odd for you guys to be down here?" Mario questioned in a suspicious tone.

"Odd? Really? Odd like…"

All of a sudden, the two Toads morphed into two Fawflants, catching the group by surprise!

"THIS?!" the same Fawflant from earlier finished before ambushing the group into a battle.

The Fawflants snuck behind Mario and Luigi to poke their backs, but they managed to stomp them. Donkey Kong takes the advantage to do a Giant Punch at one of the Fawflants while Yoshi did a Yoshi Bomb at the other.

These attacks left the Fawflants dizzy, giving a chance for Wario to do a shoulder-tackle at one of them while ***Melissa** attacked the other with Peach's golf club, and the two Fawflants were defeated.

Then, the room started to shake as Fawful's laugh came:

"I HAVE CHORTLES!"

"That's Fawful!" Mario growled.

"I think it's best for you to go ahead." ***Melissa** whispered to them. "I'll head back in Bowser's body to hide. I believe it won't take long for Fawful to discover that he didn't capture me…"

"All right!" Mario whispered back.

"I'll wait for your return!" ***Melissa** replied quietly as the heroes went to the next room.

There, they saw Fawful and Viverna standing next to the seal of the Dark Star while placing ***Peach** on the floor.

"FAWFUL!" the heroes hissed.

"YOU FOOLS ARE TOO LATE!" Fawful laughed. "The beauty hurts my teeth! Such power of darkness! My spine will have the tingle!"

"Ooh! I'm DYING to see the beauty of the Dark Star!" Viverna smirked. "Do it now, Lord Fawful!"

"Of course!"

Fawful then drags ***Peach** towards the seal and waits for her 'power' to be released…

"I HAVE…" Fawful started. However, nothing happened. "…HUH?!" he didn't believe that.

"Wait a minute… What's that?!" Viverna noticed something in ***Peach** 's pocket. It was the rose petal hidden in her dress. Viverna used her poison powers to create a small cloud of green poison at the rose petal and watched it dry out until it dies, causing ***Peach** 's Melissa disguise to be removed.

"WHAT?!" Fawful and Viverna's eyes widened.

"Uh oh…" Starlow murmured.

"I HAVE FURY!" Fawful yelled. "YOU!" he turned to the heroes. "HOW COULD YOU?!"

Fawful's anger caused him to shoot blasts at the heroes, but they ran away.

"Time for the crying! Too badness for you!" Fawful growled.

"So the real Melissa is still out there…" Viverna muttered.

"Exactly! Viverna! Search for her immediately! Fawful commands you!" Fawful demanded.

"Yes, Lord Fawful!" Viverna replied as she flew out of the caves.

"And for you, fools…" Fawful turned to the heroes. "Do not think you have victory! Because Fawful WILL be back for you! You can keep Peach with you for now. But soon enough, once Princess Melissa is in the hands of Fawful… YOU WILL CRY!" he then leaves.

"Golly… Melissa was right about Fawful discovering that he took the fake Melissa very soon." Luigi spoke astonished.

"Yeah, and that Viverna has the eyes of an eagle… She's quite dangerous." Mario threw in.

"At least he left Princess Peach with us." Starlow stated. She then flew to her. "Hey! Peach! Are you okay?"

"Oooooh… Everyone… I'm so sorry…" Peach moaned. "I never knew that our plan would collapse so quickly…"

"It's okay, Peach. At least you're safe with us." Starlow said in a soft tone.

"I know…" Peach slowly stood up. "But if Fawful finds the real Melissa, the Mushroom Kingdom is done for!"

"So we better keep her hidden from Fawful!" Yoshi said. "Thank goodness we have a safe place for her, which is in Bowser's body…"

"Speaking of which, where is she right now?" Peach asked.

"She is hiding in Bowser's body, waiting for us to return." Starlow answered.

"Well, as long as she is safe there, this shouldn't be too much of a problem." Then, something came in Peach's mind: "Oh no… Everyone, I just remembered something!"

"What?" Mario asked.

"I also heard from Fawful that…he plans to take control of Melissa's Castle!"

"Melissa's Castle?! You mean, the Star Shrine located at the top of Star Hill?!"

"Yes."

"Oh no…"

"What is it, bro?" Luigi asked.

"If Fawful takes control of the Star Realm, the most sacred place in the Mushroom World, who knows what he'll do there?"

"Oh god… Probably something not good!"

"We have to try and prevent that for happening! But how do we get out of here?"

"That door up there leads straight to Toad Town." Peach pointed. "If you really want to get out of here, then we have to hurry…"

The group wasted no time in exiting the caves, emerging back at the surface via a yellow pipe. Toad, who was walking near a fountain of Princess Peach, saw them and spoke:

"Mario! Princess! Oh, man, and Luigi, Yoshi, DK and Wario too! Where have you all BEEN?! You all have disappeared for a long time since Bowser crashed that meeting about the Blorbs! It was like, all of a sudden, Peach's Castle was just empty!"

"Sorry that we worried you, Toad. Is there anything happening in my castle?" Peach asked.

"I… Dunno." Toad shrugged.

"Guess we'll have to see it by ourselves." Mario stated. "Okay, thanks for your information, Toad."

"You're welcome." Toad waved as the group left.

Once they reached the bridge leading to the castle, all of a sudden, some strange green walls with Fawful's face printed in white popped out of the ground, blocking the access to the castle.

"No!" Peach gasped.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, inside Peach's Castle…**_

"I still have fury over those fools tricking me with a fake Melissa…" Fawful muttered while pacing back and forth. "They really are a slick bunch, like my old master used to say..."

"Lord Fawful… Viverna is searching for her the best she can… We need Melissa as soon as possible!" Midbus said.

"I HAVE ANGST!" Fawful yelled. "Do not tell Fawful that. That gives Fawful stress!"

Suddenly, an alarm activates.

"Bad noise!" Fawful exclaimed.

"Someone attempts to breach the castle." Midbus informed.

"I have many chortles at such stupidity!" Fawful smirked. "We are snug as bugs snuggling in a comfy rug. My blockade laughs at intruders!"

* * *

 _ **Back with the heroes…**_

"Fawful… He's trying to prevent us for accessing the Star Realm!" Peach growled under her breath.

"What do you mean?" Starlow asked.

"Somewhere inside my castle is a pedestal that opens the way to Star Hill. If we can't get inside we'll never be able to get there!"

"So we really have to get past this blockade…"

"How about we head back to the Town and think of a new strategy?" Mario suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea."

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" Fawful's voice came in. The heroes looked up to see a Fawfulcopter arriving and Fawful's voice came from it: "Again the tears are flowing! But not on the face of Fawful anymore! Now Fawful is on the cozy couch, sipping tea that laughs at you! And he's out there craving for the real Princess Melissa… When she does appear, the path to the Star Children will open and all the kingdom will be dark as darkness! But until then…maybe Fawful will have some shopping." The Fawfulcopter leaves.

"Well, so much for that…" Wario muttered.

"We were so close…" Starlow growled.

"Hold on, remember that Melissa suggested that we should focus on the Blorbs? After all, there's naught we can do right now." Mario said.

"You're right. Maybe Dr. Toadley will know what to do." Yoshi nodded.

Everyone then went back to Toad Town and straight to Dr. Toadley's office.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **That's right! While Princess Melissa will be the main target of my story, I decided to make Peach join with the heroes! I did that so that not only it makes up for the Star Children in my story's name, but to also give Peach a much more major role. We've already seen her being kidnapped a lot, right? Not to mention that Peach is actually my third favorite Mario character!  
**

 **What could be the cure for the Blorbs? The next chapter will reveal that! Please review.**


	12. A bad face-to-face

**Double upload!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: A bad face-to-face**

As soon as the group arrived back at the Town, a Toad from up ahead announced:

"THE MALL IS OPEN! Construction's done!"

"Sweet! That means we can go there any time to buy some supplies!" Mario exclaimed.

"That's great! But for now on, we'll have to reach Dr. Toadley's office." Peach said.

However, when they went to the west part of the Town, they gasped in shock when they saw more blorbed Toads.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" Peach yelled in shock.

"The number of blorbs is STILL growing?!" Luigi didn't believe that.

"We have to get to the office as soon as possible!" Starlow told.

"Who opens a shopping mall at a time like this?" a female Toad grumbled. "So stupid! Everyone's down with the blorbs!"

"Yeah, the blorbs are not cool." A Toad shook his head. "But hey, that's why this is the EXACT time to cheer everyone up!"

"Yeah… True…" the female Toad muttered.

"Wait, Fawful said something about shopping… Did he meant that?!" Donkey Kong questioned.

"Oh no… I think so…" Peach lamented.

"That Fawful… I'm NOT forgiving him for that!" Mario growled as he clenches his fist. "Hurry! To the office!"

They wasted no time and reached Dr. Toadley's office. They went inside.

* * *

"That little cut on the back of my head is totally healed! Thank the doctor for me! And thank you, too…" a young Toad thanked Dr. Toadley's intern.

"Well, Dr. Toadley would like to keep an eye on it, so pop back in for a checkup next week." The intern said.

"Heh… Hope you help me then…" the Toad left.

"OK! Next patient!"

Then Mario and Co walked to her.

"Oh, what's this? Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, DK and Princess Peach!" the intern was surprised. "Is something ailing you today?"

"Actually, we're here to see Dr. Toadley." Mario told.

"The doctor can only see one patient at a time. I'm afraid you'll have to come in one by one."

"Sorry, but we have some sort of emergency, so we need to see him all at once." Luigi said.

" ***sigh*** we really shouldn't… For that, you really need an appointment… If you don't mind me asking, what ails you all? You seem quite healthy…"

" _Oh boy… She won't let us see the doctor… Hmm… Hey! I have an idea!_ " Mario thought. "Well, you see…" He then fakes on having a sore throat by coughing, leaving the rest of the group confused.

"Sore throat! That could be an early symptom of the blorbs!" the intern exclaimed.

The group then saw Mario secretly winking at them, and they got what he meant.

"Oh! That reminds me! OWWWW! My chest hurts! It's affecting my heart!" Luigi fakes on having chest pains.

"No! Chest pains?!" the intern was shocked.

"Oooooh… I feel like I'm gonna throw up…" Yoshi fakes on having nausea.

"Nausea?!"

"My head hurts like hell…" Donkey Kong fakes on having a headache.

"Headache?!"

"Ugh… I'm feeling weak… Getting out of strength… And my muscles aren't helping…" Wario fakes on having muscle weakness.

"MUSCLE WEAKNESS?!"

"Oh no! Just look at my skin!" Peach fakes on having acne. In truth, she used makeup on her face.

"AND ACNE?!" the intern was now panicking. "This is an emergency! If you all get blorbed, the kingdom's doomed! You all must see the doctor immediately! Come with me!" she rushed inside the room where the doctor is.

"Good thinking, Mario!" Peach exclaimed. "Now, let's go see the doctor."

They all nodded and went into the room.

Oddly enough, Dr. Toadley's room feels more like a fortune teller's room as the group walked in with the intern.

"Doctor, your next patients are here." The intern said to him. No response. "Uh… Doctor?"

"GRAVE ILLNESS!" Dr. Toadley suddenly spoke, startling the group. "Do this group have an incredibly grave illness? Yes. Will there be catastrophic results if we do not cure their ills? There certainly will."

"But, doctor-…"

"Silence! You all harbor a virus most deadly." Toadley interrupted Mario. "Is it most gradually emerging? It most certainly is."

"Uhh… How does he know about our illness if he's facing away from us?" Luigi asked.

"This crystal imaging is how the doctor diagnoses patients." The intern explained.

"Oh."

"Watch carefully."

Toadley starts to move his hands on the crystal ball as he speaks:

"Yes… Do I see it? I do. And did it emerge? It did. A most deadly virus that will surely spell your doom… It is…called… BOWSERITIS!"

"MWAHAHA!" Bowser laughed in the crystal ball. "Somebody page me?" but it turns out that the voice also came from…behind our heroes? They turned around…and saw Bowser at the entrance!

"BOWSER?!" the heroes yelled in shock.

"Indeed! A virus most vile shows itself at last!" Toadley said as he turns around. "And is this the virus that plagues you? It is. And is it a pox on body and soul? It is."

"A pox? You're a pox!" Bowser hissed.

"I must be frank with you. Bowseritis is powerful. Recovering from it takes quite a bit of time. I'm prescribing ten days' worth of antibiotics. Take these three times a day. With food, preferably."

Bowser then dashed towards Toadley and knocked him into the air. Luckily, the heroes jumped out of the way to avoid getting launched too. They glared at Bowser.

"Mario! Green 'Stache! Dino boy! Fatso! Oversized ape! And Princess Peach! So you dolts wanna get the Dark Star, huh? AND you're trying to protect Peach? No way! Both the Dark Star and Peach should be mine! THEY WILL BE MINE!" Bowser roared.

"Bowser! We don't have time for fighting! Fawful is a more superior villain than you! Also, didn't you forget that we're supposed to work together?" Mario growled.

"Hmph! Don't you remember back at Cavi Cape? That once you're out of my bod, I would beat you in person? And you accepted that? Well, this is where it will happen! I have no idea how you got out, but it doesn't matter! THIS ENDS HERE!"

Bowser then proceeds to punch Mario, but he jumped over his arm to avoid it. He quickly hammers Bowser's hand, giving the chance for Luigi to stomp him on his head and Yoshi to do a Yoshi Bomb. Bowser then tries to attack them with his Goomba Storm. The heroes had a bit of struggle to avoid all of these Goombas, but Peach managed to knock some of them at Bowser with her golf club.

"Hm. Didn't expect you to be a fighter, princess." Bowser scolded.

"I am able to defend myself sometimes, you know?" Peach glared at him before doing a Peach Bomber at his chest, knocking him backwards.

"UGH!" he groaned from the impact. "Stupid little pests! Time to get burned!"

"That sounds bad! Hurry! Grab on to me!" Starlow said.

The heroes grabbed onto Starlow's legs and she flew upwards as Bowser tried to breathe fire at them. Since there was a lot of smoke, Wario took the opportunity to give a special gift for Bowser:

"Surprise!" Wario dropped a Bob-omb right in front of Bowser.

"Oh, crud…" Bowser sweatdropped before the Bob-omb blew up on his face. The heroes quickly went back down.

"Get knocked on your shell!" Donkey Kong smirked as he does his Giant Punch at Bowser's chest, and now he was lying on his shell to the floor.

"Let's give him a special surprise, Luigi!" Mario grinned as he pulls out a barrel cannon with a half red and half green arrow printed on it. "Yoo Who Cannon!"

Mario threw the cannon, and as he and Luigi disappears, eight cannons materialized. Out of each cannon came out either a Mario or a Luigi. There were four Marios and four Luigis in total.

"Yoohoo!" the Marios and Luigis taunted as they waved.

"What the hell?!" Bowser's eyes widened.

Then, one of the cannons rose up and aimed at Bowser, launching a Luigi at him. Another one rose up, this time launching a Mario at Bowser. The process continued until all of the Marios and Luigis were launched. With that done, Bowser faced defeat on the ground.

"Still…don't have…my…A game…" Bowser groaned. "So…very…weak…"

"And that's why you should never mess with us, Bowser." Mario crossed his arms. "No matter what, we'll always defeat you."

"Very…funny…"

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

"I see. So that is the reason you have come to me." Toadley said once the heroes explained everything to him. "If nothing is done, will the Mushroom Kingdom fall? It will."

"We heard word that you know all there is to know about the Mushroom Kingdom." Peach spoke. "We were hoping you might know how to break down the barriers at my castle…"

"Hahahaha! Heeheehee! Whoahohoho! Hohohohohoho!"

"Those laughs kind of creeped me out…" Yoshi whispered to Mario.

"I agree." Mario whispered back.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Toadley suddenly announced, making the entire group jump in startle.

"Hey! Don't startle us like that!" Peach exclaimed.

"Is there anything I don't know? No. The answer to that is no. However! All my skills and magic powers are for naught in the face of certain realities… Those barriers are absolutely, TOTALLY un-knock-downable… Because of whose power? Fawful! Fawful!"

"Boy… Way to put a gloomy spin on things…" Starlow sassed. "The way things stand, we can't get anywhere near the castle… And the fate of the kingdom teeters on the brink…"

"Is it too early to give up? It indubitably is. I lack the power to break the blockade, that is true. But does the crystal hold another message? It does."

"It does?"

"STAR CURES!"

"Star Cures?" the heroes tilted their heads.

"Star… Star Cures… Three Star Cures… Three sages hold three Star Cures… They'll cure all the world's ills…" an image of the three Star Cures rotating showed up in the crystal ball.

"So all we have to do is find these three cures?!" Starlow asked. "Can the cures destroy the Dark Star, as well?"

"Silence. First, the blorbs that assail the Mushroom Kingdom… The Star Cures are the only means to stopping the blorbs. And with the three Star Cures, surely you will have power… The power to break the castle blockade? I believe so. Will they help you destroy the Dark Star? I do not know. But one thing is crystal clear. You must get the Star Cures."

"They'll cure the blorbs?! We've got to get them!" Peach said.

"So, where are the Star Cures?" Luigi asked.

"There are three sages. There are three cures. Each holds one." Toadley answered.

"Okey, right! Gotcha! Where are the sages?"

Then, the crystal ball shows an image of a forest.

"A vision emerges! One is likely in a forest!" Toadley exclaimed.

"A forest… Dimble Wood!" Starlow confirmed.

"MWAHAHA!" Bowser's laugh came in.

"Oh, right… He's still here…" Mario sweatdropped.

"That's all I needed to hear, baby!" Bowser grinned. "So I just need to grab three Star Cures?!"

"What? YOU can't find them!" Starlow hissed. "You know we'll find all three!"

"Aw, cry more, you big baby! You're just ticking me off! You're about as annoying as that Chippy thing in my gut! Well, whatever. OK, chumps! Nice guys finish last! You can stay with Peach for now, but I'm getting those three cures and then I'll come back to take her!" he then leaves the clinic.

"Hey! What sort of person is the first sage, anyway?" Yoshi asked.

"Hmm… Yes, indeed… That would take a lot of explaining…" Toadley said crestfallen.

"Hmm… Maybe Melissa might know!" Mario told Starlow.

"You're right! She knows everything star related, so she might be a good person to start asking!" Starlow beamed.

Just then, something shows up in the crystal ball.

"Wait! It emerges!" Toadley called out. "An image emerges! Look! Is this the first sage? It most certainly is!"

"Hey! We've seen that before!" Mario remarked.

"Yeah! It was that giant bug that I was beaten by!" Wario added. "But is that thing a sage?"

"Has this crystal ever been wrong? It certainly has not. The bug is indeed one of the sages, of that I am sure. How sure am I that it has one of the cures? 100% sure." Toadley said.

"But it's not in the forest at all! It's inside Bowser's body!" Starlow yelled at Toadley's face. "Bowser ate it in Dimble Wood and now it's in Bowser's body! That crystal of yours is totally off the mark!"

"Are you an expert in crystal reading? You are not. Are you out of your league? You are. Was the bug in the forest? It was. And that means the crystal speaks the truth. Moreover, now that you know the sage's true location, you will beat Bowser to the punch!"

"He has a point there." Luigi threw in.

"Oh, yeah… I guess that's true. It's pretty lucky the first sage is inside Bowser's body! We can just head back inside and grab the Star Cure from that bug-sage thing!" Starlow exclaimed.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go back…inside Bowser's body." Mario let out a sigh.

"But lucky is that Melissa might be worried for us! We've been out of his body for a long time!" Yoshi said.

"Yeah… I guess you're right." As they left the clinic.

"Is it annoying that I got mixed up in this? It is." Toadley sighed.

* * *

 _ **Outside…**_

The heroes saw Bowser punching through some construction billboards to head to the east, where Dimble Wood was located. Then, Mario saw a crack in the wall that was inaccessible before Bowser destroyed the billboards. He hammered it, and to their surprise, an orange pipe was revealed.

"Look at this pipe… It's like the one in Bowser's!" Starlow pointed out. "How lucky! We can move on!"

"Seems as though Bowser is headed for Dimble Wood…" Peach pondered.

"Yeah, but that loser has no idea the sage with the Star Cure is inside him!" Wario smirked.

"Well, let's go in!" Yoshi exclaimed as they all jumped into the pipe.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **The hunt for the three Star Cures begins! Until the next chapter! Please review.  
**


	13. The Bubbly Blubble Lake

**The next chapter is here!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: The Bubbly Blubble Lake**

The six heroes emerged out of the same orange pipe in the Pipe Yard, where they found Melissa in her original form standing there waiting for them.

"Welcome back, everyone!" she greeted. "About time you guys showed up in here!"

"Sorry that we worried you, Melissa." Mario said. "But we gotta keep you hidden so that Fawful and his minions won't find you."

"Hey! Look! Over there!" Yoshi saw something coming out of the tumbled red pipe and pointed. It was none other than Durmite coming out of hiding!

"Aha! There's the sage!" Starlow exclaimed.

"I'll try to catch it." Mario said as he slowly tip-toes towards Durmite. "Steady… Steady…"

However, Durmite noticed him and tried to flee, but Luigi blocked the other side.

"Where do you think you're going?" he spoke.

"Alright, Luigi. On the count of three, we'll leap and catch it." Mario told. Luigi nodded as they both began to tip-toe towards Durmite. "One… Two… THREE!"

The brothers then leapt at the same time at Durmite, but… Instead of catching it, they ended up on the ground with nothing and even let Durmite stand on top of Mario's cap.

" ***groan*** what the hell are you guys doing?" Wario facepalmed as the rest walked to the downed brothers.

"WAIT!" Starlow called out to Durmite, who looks at her. "You're the first sage, right? We need to talk to you!"

Durmite said nothing and just fled the Pipe Yard.

"WAIT!" Starlow called out, but Durmite didn't listen. She then looks at Mario and Luigi on the ground. "Mario! Luigi! Get it together!"

"Yeah, you looked like two idiots trying to catch such a minuscule bug." Wario scolded.

"Oh, shut it!" Mario growled as he and Luigi got on their feet.

"Anyway, we need to follow that bug and quick!" Donkey Kong said.

The heroes left the Pipe Yard and watched Durmite fleeing to a new area in Bowser's body. They quickly followed it and arrived at the Energy Hold, located at Bowser's right leg at the patella region. The ground could be the interior skin since we can see a thin layer of fat on it and there were mucus on the first three gaps ahead. For the background, I have no idea what those blue things might be, but they might be where all of the energy in the body is stored and transported.

Upon their arrival, the heroes saw Durmite trying to escape again.

"Come back here!" Mario called out as he and Luigi clear the gaps with their Spin Jump.

Unfortunately, Durmite squeezes under a tiny gap of three strange green blocks showing a Boo's face, stopping the heroes in their tracks.

"Aw, it got away…" Starlow lamented in frustration. "There's gotta be a way past this barrier…" she inspects the Boo Blocks. "But it's beyond us now."

"True, I think neither my Mini Mario ability can get me to the other side." Mario shook his head.

"The only way to get past those…creepy blocks like how the sage did is with a Mini Mushroom." Luigi said, stuttering a bit by the mention of creepy blocks.

"Yeah, but I don't have one in my pocket and I'm pretty sure the Toads aren't selling one at the Toad Square. No wonder why Mini Mushrooms are one of the rarest mushrooms to be found."

" ***sigh*** just our luck…"

"Well, until Dr. Toadley finds out the location of the other sages, we should stick around this area. There's no way Bowser can get the Star Cure first anyway…" Starlow stated.

"Wait, are you talking about the three Sages of the Star Cures?" Melissa exclaimed in surprise.

"You know about them, Melissa?" Yoshi asked.

"Yes, the Sages of the Star Cures are three different sages that are close to the star people. In fact, the Miracle Cure, the complete form of the Star Cures, was created by the star people themselves in order to cure any type of disease in the lands below them. To prevent that no one would use the Miracle Cure in a wrong way, the star people shattered it into three Star Cures and entrusted them to the three sages. If I recall, one of the sages is a cute butterfly, Wisdurm, the second one is an elderly Koopa, Kuzzle, and the third one is a meditating octopus, Chakron."

"And considering the fact that caterpillars become butterflies when adults, that's why that bug is a sage!" Peach concluded.

"That's right! Maybe if I communicate with Wisdurm, she might remember me and could hand us the first Star Cure."

"Hmm… Speaking of Bowser, I can't believe I'm actually saying this but, I wonder what is he doing right now?"

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"ACHOOOOO!" Bowser let out a loud sneeze.

Our big bad guy was now standing at Blubble Lake, a lake located west of Bumpsy Plains, north of Cavi Cape, and south of Toad Town. It is filled with many rock structures and stone walls. Next to the lake's shores, there were special flowers with pollen that is very sensitive to anyone's noses. This area's name definitely came from the word 'bubble', which could be because we can create bubbles in our mouth. What happened back there was that a single grain of sensitive pollen tickled Bowser's nose and made him sneeze.

"Little tickle in the old schnoz… Probably Chippy or something!" Bowser grumbled.

" _Ha! Very funny!"_ Starlow growled.

"So you finally spoke to me, Chippy, huh? Hmph! Time to get that Star Cure before Mario!"

" _That's what you'll see!"_ Mario's voice came from inside Bowser.

"WHAT?! MARIO?! HOW DID YOU GET BACK IN HERE?!" Bowser asked in shock and anger as he looks down to his stomach.

" _Do you really think I would tell you? Listen, Bowser, you should understand that the Dark Star is way too powerful than you! So we still have to work together!"_

"Why do I even care? I've already told you that I'll be taking the Dark Star by myself! Whatever how you break that god damn seal!"

" _You'll need Princess Melissa in order to do it. But if you set free the Dark Star, it'll probably not even listen to you and head towards the seven Star Children on its own."_

"Seven Star Children?"

" _We also don't know who they are, but one of them is Peach, because we just figured it out earlier."_

"Wait, Peach is one of those Star Children?!"

" _She is! And if the Dark Star goes to her, she'll get kidnapped by it instead of you, and because Fawful found the Dark Star before you, if the Dark Star finds all of the Star Children, it'll absorb their power, causing the world to plunge into darkness and Fawful would rule the world… INSTEAD OF YOU!"_

"WHAT?! That bastard! I should be the one ruling the world! Not him!"

" _You don't want that to happen, right? So you'll have to work together with us! Also, Melissa is with us too, but please don't tell any of Fawful's minions that she's inside you! She must be hidden from Fawful at all costs!"_

"Hmph… Fine. But I'll only be nice to you and your friends as long as you're INSIDE OF MY BODY! And you'll let ME get the Cures, alright?!"

" _ ***sigh***_ _fine… It's a deal."_

"Good!" Bowser finished before looking around. "So, which way to Dimble Wood?"

He walks around the area and even went underwater. After encountering many enemies on land and on water like Beehosses, Crawfuls, Glam Lakitus, Fawfloppers and Mawful Moles, Bowser heard some voices:

"You guys hear footsteps?"

"Could it be Bowser?"

"Who's that now?" Bowser asked.

Noticing that the voices were coming from the other side of the wall, he peeked in it, and saw his Koopa troops trapped in a cage.

"It's us, sir! Your Koopa Troopa unit!" one of the Koopas said.

"King Bowser!"

"Your Awesomeness!"

"Behind this rock wall, huh…" Bowser pondered once he stepped back from the wall. He tries to punch it, but it did nothing. "Man! Too hard!"

"We're getting evacked, guys! Bowser's here for us!" a Koopa spoke.

"He can't get through that wall, though, can he?"

"Belay that talk, soldier! Bowser can break anything!"

"Hey yeah, you're right! That's why he's the king!"

"Darn skippy! Bowser rules!"

"AH… GAHH… GWAHAHA! Ahh… Of course I'll break it! This wall's going DOWN, baby!" Bowser faked a laugh.

"Of course you will, sir! That's our King Bowser!"

"KING BOWSER!"

"Crud! I've gotta hit this thing with something big, or no dice… Scratch that—something HUGE… Guess I'd better go looking…" Bowser said before leaving.

Soon, Bowser reached a part of the area where two of those special flowers were planted next to an old ship in front. Bowser steps closer to the flowers and sniffs them:

"Smells weird… Actually… Smells kinda good…"

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"For goodness sake, Mario! Do you really had to explain everything to Bowser?!" Luigi hissed.

"I had to! Otherwise, Bowser wouldn't know that he's in a misunderstanding!" Mario stormed.

"You know, Mario does have a point." Melissa threw in.

"Is that so?" Luigi asked.

"Bowser was being nice and complimenting Mario for very long before you guys reached Peach, remember? So of course he would trust him if he tells everything that he doesn't know about, despite them both being archrivals. After all, many villains had to team up with their archenemies to take down a much more superior villain. That's what my sister told me, at least."

"Then I guess he got used to teaming up with you guys that he's kind of showing respect to you." Peach guessed.

"Yes, because we were the ones stimulating his body for the entire time." Mario added. "So I believe it would be best to let him know about the Dark Star since he trusts me more when I'm inside his body rather than outside, which is kind of odd, actually."

Just then, something went inside Luigi's nose, causing him to sneeze:

"A... ACHOOOO!"

"What just happened, mate?" Donkey Kong asked in concern.

"I think something went inside my nose and irritated it!"

"Hmm, that means something is happening in Bowser's body again!" Starlow said. "Hurry!"

The heroes rushed all the way up to the Nose Deck, located inside Bowser's nasal cavities. The ground is composed of cilia, and our heroes were so small that they were able to walk on them with no problems, and the background could be showing the nasal conchae and the cartilage tissue. The heroes could see a small wind draft on some bones.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mario asked Luigi.

"Yep. Spin Jump time!"

The brothers did a Spin Jump at the draft and it sent them flying into the air, taking them between two walls of ten large nasal mounds. As pollen grains started to fall, the brothers had to repel them to all of the ten nasal mounds, turning them red.

Once all of the mounds were red, suddenly, one of them engorges and pops out. The brothers had to slam into the swollen membrane and another one popped out.

"That's quite a reaction…" Luigi spoke.

"Uh oh! Look out!" Mario warned.

The brothers moved out of the way, as a blue pollen was falling down at them.

"That pollen looked strange; I suggest we don't touch that one!" Mario said.

"All right, now let's slam into that swollen mound!" Luigi exclaimed.

They managed to slam into the mound, followed up by another one. Then, another one with round edges popped out.

"I guess this is where the 'you know what' will happen!" Luigi warned.

As the brothers fly towards the engorged mound…

"Here comes the tickles, Bowser!" Mario grinned before he and Luigi slammed into the mound.

With that, the whole area begun to shake because of the irritation in Bowser's nose. Mario and Luigi landed on the ground and the group prepared to cover their ears.

"GAAH! BAAH!" Bowser was almost about to sneeze.

"Oh… Here it comes!" Mario told them as they positioned their hands close to their ears.

"Three…two…one…!" Luigi did the countdown, and as soon as he said 'one', everyone immediately pressed their hands as hard as they could on their ears.

"AAAAAACHOOOOOO!" Bowser let out a sneeze that was so strong that it caused gushes of wind to blow out at the ship, sending it right at the wall where the Koopas were trapped on the other side, demolishing it.

"Wow… That went pretty quickly." Luigi remarked as he and the rest uncover their ears.

"Ahh! That felt great! Even my sneezes are powerful and awesome!" Bowser exclaimed. "Now to save my Koopa troop."

"DID YOU SEE THAT?!" one of the Koopas exclaimed in shock.

"That was HUGE!"

"Oh, look! There's our king!"

Once Bowser came to them, he breaks the cage with his punch, freeing the Koopas.

"FREEDOM!"

"You really know how to make an entrance, sir! Ramming through those rocks with a ship?! GENIUS!"

"No doubt! It would've been boring if you just punched it!"

"That's our king!"

"KING BOWSER!"

"Ah… GAHAHAHA!" Bowser laughed. "Uh, yeah. That's right! Grand entrance, huh? I go the extra mile for you guys! Remember that!"

The Koopas then joined in the army, allowing Bowser to use the move called Koopa Corps in battle. He then continues to explore around the lake.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **What's going to happen next? The next chapter will show that! Please review.  
**


	14. The giant's return

**Next chapter done!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: The giant's return**

After a lot of walking, Bowser finds more of those special flowers next to some sort of giant propeller on the water.

"Huh? A propeller…in the water… Wait, propellers fly! If that water thing can fly, I'll be in the forest like THAT!" he spoke to himself.

He approaches the flowers and sniffs them. But you all know what happened after that…

"AAH! BAAH! AAAAAACHOOOOOO!" Bowser sneezed.

His powerful sneeze was enough to make the propeller spin. With that, a strange-looking tower rose up from the water. It looked huge…

"Weird! It got dark! I feel like this sort of thing happened before… And then…" Bowser remarked once a large shadow appeared under him. What he didn't know was that it was the tower's foot that was right above him. Before he could even finish, he was eventually crushed by the tower's foot.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Did I just hear a loud thud or am I just going crazy?" Luigi wondered.

"It did. Looks like Bowser is in critical condition again." Mario replied. "To the Rump Command!"

They all hurried back to the Rump Command in order to revive Bowser with adrenaline once again. Once they completed the minigame with the boats of revival, the whole place begins to shake.

"Here we go agaaaaain!" Luigi exclaimed.

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

Bowser, who just became giant once again, successfully hurls the tower away a few feet from him. The tower, called the Tower of Yikk, steps towards Giant Bowser a bit, face-to-face with each other.

"The lake…" Giant Bowser noticed that the lake behind the tower was close. However, the lake was also close to Bowser from behind too. "Back here, too!"

He knew that he must send the Tower of Yikk into the lake, so he approaches and punches it as hard as he could to make it fall into the lake. On the other hand, the tower suffered no damage at all.

"Man… What's this guy's body made of?" Giant Bowser grumbled. Then, the tower retreats its legs and takes off into the sky. "Aw, you wanna fly away?! Tough luck, sucker!" Giant Bowser teased.

He approaches the tower and does a series of punches on its chest, causing it to fall back into the water. But still, no damage was taken. "Attacking this dude's body seems useless… Maybe that head?" Giant Bowser guessed. Then, he noticed that the tower was sinking in the water. "Nice! He's sinking! Now I can whale on his head!"

With that, he does a punch on the Tower of Yikk's head, and finally it took damage and its head started to show cracks.

"Now we're talking!" Giant Bowser smirked.

The tower tries to take off again, but Giant Bowser prevented that by punching its body repeatedly. Soon, the tower flies back on the land, ready to launch its attack. Three Mawful Moles come out and make their way to the head to try to fix it. Giant Bowser prevented them for doing so by breathing fire at them.

Next, the Tower of Yikk's door opens, revealing three Crawfuls carrying a huge Fawful Bomb and tosses it at Giant Bowser. Giant Bowser countered it with his punch, but the tower's head counters it back. This volley continued until the bomb blew at the tower, causing it to slide backwards, reaching the lake's edge, giving the chance for Giant Bowser to Slide Punch it, and sending it into the water again.

He does another punch at the tower's head before it took off out of the water again. This time, it flew back much further away from the lake than before, and Giant Bowser noticed that the lake behind him was very close.

"Oh, crud! If I get sent back, I'll nearly fall into the water!" Giant Bowser flinched.

When the three Mawful Moles showed up to fit the tower's head, Giant Bowser breathed fire at them again. The three Crawfuls showed up again and the same Fawful Bomb volley started. Unfortunately, Giant Bowser's timing was the one who went off this time, and he slid backwards. Now he was the one reaching the lake's edge.

"T-This isn't good!" Giant Bowser stuttered as he saw the Tower of Yikk coming at him.

Then, all of a sudden, a golden aura appeared around Giant Bowser's body!

"Huh?! What the?" Giant Bowser didn't see that coming. "Suddenly, I feel… Stronger!"

He then grabs hold of the tower's body once it was close enough, and manages to push it back.

"Hm, I guess I AM stronger! Let's test this out!" Giant Bowser smirked as he approaches the tower and prepares to do a punch.

To his surprise, thanks to the aura's power, he punched the tower so hard that he sent it flying all the way to the water; something that a normal punch couldn't do.

"Whoa! That was AWESOME!" Giant Bowser was surprised as the golden aura disappears. "Alright, time to end this!"

He quickly rushes to the tower on the water and does one last punch at its face. With that, the Tower of Yikk deactivates and falls down on the ground, motionless. Bowser then returns to normal size and falls down to where he was crushed.

"BWAHAHA!" he laughed in glory. "Not sure what that aura was, but, castle, tower, whatever! I'll pummel anything!"

" _Glad that this helped you out on finishing it."_ Melissa spoke.

"Eh? What do you mean? Are you that Princess Melissa that those chumps kept talking about?"

" _I am. But for my and the kingdom's safety, please don't tell anyone that I'm inside you. I'll tell you what happened if you keep this promise, okay?"_

"Alright, it's a deal. So, what is it?"

" _You see, I was having that feeling that you wouldn't win this fight, so I gave my blessing to you in order to release the power of the Magical Star resting inside your heart."_

" _Wait, Melissa! Are you telling us that Bowser…"_ Mario couldn't finish.

" _Yes, Bowser is also a Star Child, just like Peach."_

" _Are you serious?!"_

"I'm a Star Child? What?"

" _A Star Child is an individual who possesses an extraordinary amount of power, which can only be activated when either I or a Star Sprite offers our blessing to said individual. There are seven of them in total, and they are what the Dark Star is after. So far, my friends know that Peach and now you are two of said Star Children."_

"Really? Well, that amount of power I received felt GREAT! Do it again, and Fawful's done for!"

" _Sorry, but giving blessings takes a lot of my power. Same goes to a Star Sprite. So we shouldn't give blessings too often, just in danger situations."_

"Just like when I grow giant? Weak. AGAIN." Bowser sighed. "Whatever. What's in that tower I just fought, anyway?"

* * *

The interior of the Tower of Yikk wasn't as vast as we thought. The walls and floor were made of steel and there were moving gears carved in the walls. Bowser moved forward and rode an elevator, taking him to a floor filled with large pink switches that couldn't be pressed on.

He then finds a room filled with books in a large bookcase implanted on the walls and there was a strange Boo-like machine at the left corner. Bowser saw an open book on a desk and walks to it. But once he picked up the book and looked at its pages, all of them were blank!

"What's with this book? It's totally blank…" he queried, looking through more pages.

Suddenly, the lights in the room went off, and a wall rose at the exit. But that's not all; a light suddenly flashed from the book at Bowser's face, causing him to drop the book in a startle. The book closes and wanders by itself, until it opened again revealing a hologram of a person that looks identical to the tower's design.

" _Who has awakened me from my eternal slumber?"_ he asked.

"Who are you, bub?! You LIVE in there?!" Bowser questioned.

" _I am called Yikk."_ The person named Yikk answered. _"Master creator. Bonded genius. Inventor of the Tower of Yikk. And you are?"_

"What? You don't know me? ME?!"

" _My physical body no longer treads the paths of this world. My soul slumbers in this book, my entire existence distilled into a patchwork of dreams… But you are not of dreams. You are no ordinary being, are you?"_

"You got THAT right, buddy! I'm Bowser, the Koopa king!"

" _I see… And…are you one tormented by the ageless riddle of Boo?"_

"Boo?"

" _Yes… Boo…"_

Yikk makes the book close and move to the right before opening up again and continuing:

" _That which disappears even as one think it appears…"_

The book moves again.

" _That which appears even as one think it disappears…"_

The book moves again, now stopping in front of Bowser.

" _A mirage, ephemeral, like the gulf betwixt dreams and waking. I am tormented by the riddle of the Boo. In this place, I have researched their ways. And the result is…"_

The book moves closer to the strange machine.

" _This Boo-ray Machine!"_

"Boo-ray what?"

" _The machine's light renders the insides of one's body visible! My proprietary laser emits Boo transparency waves, giving the light its special properties. If you wish to see, stand upon the marked platform before it."_

Bowser then does as he was told and stands on the marked part of the floor right in front of the Boo-ray Machine. Yikk then moves the book towards the machine and says:

" _Good. Now you must hit the machine's switch."_

Bowser hits the red switch on the machine, causing its laser to activate, and illuminating Bowser's chest in an X-ray vision-like.

" _Behold! Your body is transparent!"_

"Whoa! It's like a spotlight for my gut!"

" _In layman's terms, yes. Well? Amazing, isn't it? Makes one feel like saying, 'Wow, that Yikk!' Right? This marks the first usage of the Boo-ray on a living being… I consider the trial a success. Now, to sleep and dream again. Use it all you wish."_

The book closes and flies back to the desk.

* * *

 _ **Back inside Bowser…**_

"What's with this light?" Wario asked, shielding his eyes a bit.

"I think… There might be some activity back at that area! Let's go check it out!" Starlow said.

Ironically, they were back at the Energy Hold. In an instant, the strange Boo blocks that were blocking the path up ahead vanished with the light.

"Wow! WOW!" Starlow exclaimed. "The barrier that bug escaped under just disappeared!"

"So the light from outside changes this place, huh?" Donkey Kong remarked.

"Now we can resume the chase! C'mon! Let's go!"

Everyone nodded and moved on.

* * *

 _ **Outside, at Blubble Lake…**_

"Hmm… Still no sign of the princess…" Viverna surveyed the lake from above, finding no trace of Melissa. "I guess I should keep looking. I don't want to disappoint Lord Fawful."

Then, something came on her mind when she was about to leave:

"But… How come I have no memory of my past at all? Ever since Fawful saved me and I joined him, my memory was all blank before that happened… Who was I? What's my origin?" after pondering for a bit, she decides to shake it off: "No. I better focus on the most important thing right now. I can't distract. I'll search for Princess Melissa first." She flies off. " _And hope I can find out who I really am…_ "

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **What could be Viverna's past? Will Mario and Co. locate the first sage? Find out next time! Please review.  
**


	15. The first Star Cure

**The next chapter is here!  
**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: The first Star Cure**

Thanks to the Boo-ray Machine, Mario and Co. are now able to proceed further into the Energy Hold to locate the first sage holding the first Star Cure. There was one big problem: this place was like a huge maze, filled with many rooms to explore.

As they were moving around this maze, Mario was thinking about the other Star Child they just found out, and spoke to his gang:

"Man, who would've thought that BOWSER was also a Star Child? I mean, he's a villain, and stars are mostly related to good people. How can Bowser be one of the chosen ones to become a Star Child?"

"Well, he does possess a great strength and can breathe fire like nobody else." Melissa told. "He's not so smart either, but I assure you he is the toughest creature who ever walk on the Mushroom World…"

"True that…" Luigi pointed out.

"His heart of pure evil has made him strong enough to defeat his foes. But every time Mario beats him, I feel that he grows weaker and weaker. Maybe that's why he's chosen to become a Star Child; to prevent him for losing his strength and recover quickly so that he could launch his next attack."

"Hmm, that makes sense. Gee… I've beaten him so many times that I almost never realized that. I never knew he'd recover so fast… Now I know because it's the power of the Magical Star in his heart that makes him recover some of his strength that he lost when he battles me…" Mario pondered.

"And with that, we now know two Star Children. There's still five more remaining, though." Yoshi said.

"I wonder if Fawful already knew that Bowser was a Star Child... After all, Melissa told us that he knows five of them."

"Yes. Fawful knew that Bowser was one of the Star Children. In truth, the reason he made Bowser inhale everything is that he was hoping that Bowser would also inhale the other Star Children inside of him. And because of his burly, aggressive and sometimes naïve personality, Fawful knew that Bowser would be the perfect host to hold the Star Children inside of him." Melissa explained.

"Wait! Then that means Fawful is using Bowser in order to bring the Star Children together!" Mario realized.

"Uh oh… If the other Star Children are inside of him, then that's not good, mate!" Donkey Kong warned.

"And worst of all, we already have a Star Child right here, that is Peach!"

"Uh, I didn't mean to change the subject, but what are those things?" Peach pointed to some nerve cell-like enemies called Napses coming to them.

"Alright, we'll worry about that later, so let's focus on finding the sage!" Mario said as he stomps on a Napse.

* * *

Later, they open up an odd door with a Star Panel, and on the next room, the Mario Bros learn the Drill Bros move, which was similar to the Baby Drill move, which allows Mario and Luigi to dig underground just like how their baby selves did in that previous adventure.

Once they finally open a door that has a complete star shape with the use of a full Star Panel, the heroes finally caught up with Durmite, and watched it fleeing up ahead. They wasted no time in following it.

They caught up with it again and were about to go after it, until Luigi stopped them:

"Wait! Guys! Let me catch it!"

"Okay!" Mario nodded.

Luigi then tip-toes slowly towards Durmite. But when he was close, Durmite stops and turns back, causing Luigi to cower in fright, making the rest of the group sweatdrop. Durmite tries to flee again, but Luigi tip-toes after it again, and once it stopped, he once again cowered in fright. Durmite then approaches Luigi's…tush, and sniffs it (I guess?) before latching its mouth on it.

"Uhh…" Luigi moaned.

"What the heck is he doing?" Wario whispered to Yoshi and Donkey Kong.

"No idea." Yoshi whispered back.

Durmite coughs after letting its mouth go on Luigi's bottom before walking again. Luigi once again tip-toes after Durmite and manages to catch it with his cap.

"Did you catch it?!" Mario wanted to know as he and the group approaches Luigi.

"I think I did-… WAAH! STOP IT! STOP IT!" Luigi screamed when Durmite tries to struggle to get out of his cap, causing it to move wildly with him. Soon, it stopped moving. Unknown to them, Durmite had actually dug into the ground in order to escape, so once Luigi lifted his cap, he of course found no sign of Durmite. "Hey! Where'd it go?"

Then, Durmite came out of the ground from behind them.

"There it is!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.

"Come back here!" Luigi called out as he once again traps Durmite with his cap. However, Durmite dug into the ground to escape and emerged right in front of Mario. "What the…?" Luigi turned around and did the same thing again, but Durmite digs into the ground again. "I don't understand…" Luigi murmured once he lifted his cap. He stands up and tries to look for Durmite, until Wario sassed:

"Face it, greenie. You'll never catch that bug like this."

"Yeah, Wario does have a point." Mario said. "It must've been digging under the ground when you attempted to trap it."

"So we'll need another strategy to catch it?" Luigi asked. Unknown to him, Durmite was actually sticking its mouth on his bottom again.

"Totally."

"Well, if that's the case, then we should get going."

But then, as soon as Luigi walked past them, they noticed Durmite on his bottom.

"Uh, Luigi…" Mario mumbled while staring at Durmite.

"What?" Luigi turned around, and Durmite detached from his bottom, landing in front of him. "Aha! There you are!" he once again uses his cap to trap it.

However, Durmite used its method of escaping and emerged out of the ground next to the exit; and was heading there.

"Oh no, don't you dare!" Luigi hissed, leaping after Durmite. Unfortunately, Durmite managed to escape into the tiny narrow passage before Luigi's hands could reach it. For a comic-relief moment, it even farted on Luigi's face before leaving.

"It can even FART?!" Wario's eyes widened.

"Look who's got competition!" Donkey Kong smirked.

"Shut up!"

" ***sigh*** oh well…" Melissa let out a sigh while shaking her head.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

The heroes reached the end of the Energy Hold, where they found Durmite up ahead. Durmite once again tries to flee, with Luigi leaping after it followed up by Mario next. Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong also decided to join too.

"ENOUGH!" Durmite suddenly spoke, making the group jump. "Persistent men, aren't youuu? What is it you want with meee?"

"Wisdurm! Don't you remember me? It's me, Melissa!" Melissa said. "We need you because we need your Star Cure to break the barrier caused by Fawful who's after the Dark Star!"

"Hmm? The Dark Staaaar? Fawfuuul? The Star Cuure? Ahhhh… Traaaagic. Truly traaaagic. My sympathiesss. So let me get this straiiight; you want me, a sage, to give you, a nobody, the Star Cuure?"

"That's right!"

"I don't know about thaaat… Even if you're our known princeess, what physical proof do you have that your story is truuuue? Why should I believe youuuu?"

"But, Wisdurm-…"

"This Star Cure was entrusted to the sole care of me, Wisdurm! Why would I hand it over to men who lack any credibiiiiility?!"

"I could tell you, but I can't let my friends hear me. So hand us the Star Cure and I'll tell you."

"Hmmmmmmmmm…. You're quite persistent to meee, Melissa. This troubles meeeee. Your friends chase me without flaaagging. And now you demand the Star Cuuuure… Rather brazen, methiiiiiiinks…"

"How dare you say that!" Luigi growled, stomping his foot madly.

"Tut tut! Lost our temperrrrr? Somewhat childish, nooooo? And yet amuuusing! Regrettably…"

"Listen, my brother can sometimes lose his temper. So let's take things smoothly, alright?" Mario insisted.

"Very wellll… If you are so insistent that I give you the cure, we will battle for iiiiit."

"Wait, what?!"

"A battle with Wisdurrrrrm… The winner will own the Star Cuuuuuure."

"Okay, we'll accept it."

"Yes? Then we beginnnnn. Wisdurm battle sequence STAAAAAAAAAAART!"

Durmite then turns into Wisdurm, which is a pink version of her big Durmite form and she was also holding a magic wand on her tail. While she was transforming, she was attacked by Mario and Luigi's stomps, Yoshi's Egg Throw, Donkey Kong's Headbutt, Wario's bomb throw, Melissa's Shooting Star, and Peach's Vegetable.

Wisdurm then summons a pink heart above the heroes. The heart then shows an image of Mario before falling down at him, but he breaks it with his hammer. Wisdurm then shoots a laser of colorful stars from her mouth at them. But when the heroes were dodging the moving laser, Wisdurm uses her wand to make each of them switch places, causing Wario and Donkey Kong to bump at each other in the process.

"Ugh!" they groaned from the impact.

Mario and Luigi quickly attacked Wisdurm with the Yoo Who Cannon, causing her to shrink back to how she looked previously. Wisdurm then spits a long web-like thing from her mouth and uses it to swing at the heroes, but Peach knocked her back with her golf club.

Yoshi does the Egg Roll attack at Wisdurm, followed up by Donkey Kong's Hand Slap. But having Wisdurm take this much damage caused her to transform back into her medium pink sized form with the wand on her tail.

She then sends another magic trick: she fires two green orbs from her wand at Mario and Luigi, and once both spells hit them, they shrunk! The rest of the heroes gasped at that, but even more when Wisdurm was about to ram straight to the shrunken brothers.

"MAMA MIA!" Mario yelled with a high-pitched voice.

"HELP!" Luigi also yelled with a high-pitched voice.

They tried to use their hammers to keep them away from Wisdurm, but despite taking damage, that wasn't enough, especially with our brothers in this size. Suddenly…

"I'll NOT let you trample over them!" Donkey Kong came out of nowhere and grabs hold of Wisdurm's head. He struggles to push her back, but she seemed too strong, even for a very powerful ape. "URRRGH! Dang! How are you so strong?!"

"We could try to finish her while DK is holding her, but we are too small!" Luigi told Mario.

"If only we could break that wand, then the spell on us might break…" Mario pondered.

" _I feel that DK won't be able to do anything in this state… Well, in that case, I shall help him!_ " Melissa thought before concentrating.

Just then, a golden aura appeared around Donkey Kong.

"Hmm? This aura… Is that the aura of the Star Children?! Does that mean I'm one of them?" Donkey Kong questioned, still holding on to Wisdurm. "I'm feeling…stronger than before! Unngh… Here it COMES!"

Thanks to the extra strength with the Magical Star's power, Donkey Kong managed to lift Wisdurm above his head. He throws her hard to the ground, causing her magic wand to break in half by the impact on the floor. With that, Mario and Luigi returned to their normal sizes.

"Yes! We're back! Thanks a lot, DK!" Luigi exclaimed.

"No problem, mates!" Donkey Kong replied.

"Now that we're in our normal size, we can finish that sage!" Mario pulls out a large pink ball with white stars printed on it. "Let's-a go! Super Bouncer!"

"Okey-dokey!" Luigi nodded as he hops on the ball.

Mario then spikes the ball and Luigi aims himself at its center in order to make it fall over Wisdurm. The ball then bounces off and Mario spikes it back into the air. The brothers continued this rally until Wisdurm shrinks back to her caterpillar form and faces defeat on the ground.

"Guh… Bluh… Gack… Haff…" she gagged.

"See? We always defeat any sort of thing that attacks us!" Mario grinned.

Then, Wisdurm was enveloped in a bright light and she morphs into her true form: a cute and delicate butterfly.

"Oh my! She's so cute!" Peach squealed.

"Heh heh heh heh…" Wisdurm giggled. "So you have bested me on the field of baaaaattle. That victory has earned you the right to see me in my true forrrrrrm. Wellll? Not too bad looking, hmmmm?"

The boys were speechless, since Wisdurm looked so cute in that form. Both girls watched them looking at Wisdurm in awe, making them giggle. Wisdurm continues:

"Now thennnn… I am one of the guardians of the Star Cuuures. We sages knew the day of the Dark Star awakening would come, and so awaited the Star Childreeeen…"

"The Star Children? We were actually trying to look for them. So the sages are related to the Star Children as well?" Mario asked.

"We have met many times, as you all well rememberrrr… The day Bowser ate me along with the giga-carrot was the day our fates crosssssed… It is clear we are connected by a fate that is beyond our poor comprehensionnnn…"

"Please! Your…Sageness! Please give us the Star Cure so we can break the barrier and stop the Dark Star!" Starlow begged.

"Of coursssssse… Here, take iiiit."

Wisdurm then hands the Red Star Cure to our heroes. Just two more cures left!

"I wish you luck finding the other two Star Cuuuuures… And Melissa, it was good seeing you agaaaain." Wisdurm bids farewell to them.

"Whew! Finally! We got one of the Star Cures…" Starlow sighed in relief.

"That leaves two more." Melissa said.

"Say, DK, did you really get a golden aura when you managed to hurl Wisdurm back in the fight?" Mario asked.

"I did, mate! Does that make me a Star Child?" Donkey Kong questioned.

"Yes." Melissa nodded. "I gave my blessing to you so that you could hurl Wisdurm and restore Mario and Luigi back to their normal sizes. So that makes you one of the Star Children, DK."

"I'm actually a Star Child? Sweet!"

"Just four more! We're so close!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"Well, with that out of the way, what do you all say we get out of here?" Starlow suggested.

"Oh yeah!" Mario nodded.

They all left the Energy Hold throughout a shortcut opened up by Wisdurm when she left, leading them to another area: the Joint Tower.

This area is located somewhere in Bowser's chest. The ground was bones and we could see some cells of something at the background, probably the skin cells. There were many nerves in the ground on the 'tower' part. Once the heroes made their way to the top, a voice called for them:

"Guys!" it was from Toadbert, standing all the way down. "You found your way here too, by boogity!" he then climbs up until he reached where the heroes were standing.

"Toadbert! What were you doing here?" Peach asked.

"So I've been investigating this area, and I discovered that this region controls the body slam!"

"Body slam?" everyone except Toadbert tilted their heads.

"Yes, by boogity! Body slam! If my calculations are correct, the body slam somehow doubles Bowser's weight while airbone. With that doubled weight, Bowser can slam into the ground with incredible force!" he directs to the three pressure points under the ground. "You see these three pressure points? If you stimulate them, you'll awaken the body slam… But right now the pressure points aren't active… Stimulating them right now wouldn't have any effect."

"I guess we'll have to activate those pressure points with something in this area." Mario thought out loud. "Luigi, let's see if we can find something!"

"Okay." Luigi nodded. He looked around and saw some sort of wheel made of bones on the right side of the area. "Hey! How about that wheel?"

"Hmm… Our Spin Jump could work on it."

Mario and Luigi did their Spin Jump at the wheel, causing it to turn and an energy sparked in its neuron, following its trail until it reaches the 'tower', activating the three pressure points, as they started pulsating.

Outside, Bowser began to feel something weird in his body again.

"Hey! My body feels…not right! What's going on in there?" he asked.

"The pressure points are active! Well done, by boogity!" Toadbert congratulated. "All right! Try stimulating those three pressure points, and we'll see what happens!"

Mario and Luigi used their Drill Bros move on all pressure points to let their energy spark in their single neuron. Once they were done, the energy flows into the neuron on the very bottom, causing the whole place to shake and the 'tower' broke apart. Wait, broke apart?

"Uh oh…" Luigi gulped.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" everyone screamed as the large platform fell all the way down. The sharp end of the platform touched some sort of core, causing Bowser to feel something good in his chest.

"OOOOOOH! What's going on?! That feels GREAT! Feels like power is building in my abs!" Bowser exclaimed.

"Looks like something's happened to Bowser." Starlow guessed.

"Body slam, by boogity!" Toadbert said from up above on a ledge. "I guarantee you he can do body slams now!"

Hearing that, Starlow calls for Bowser:

" _Hey! Can you hear me?! You can do body slams!"_

"Chippy?! What was that? Body slams?" Bowser questioned. "…What do I do?"

" _You, uh… Uhhhh…"_

" _Just jump in the air, and while there, you ground-pound with your body!"_ Toadbert explained.

Bowser did as he was told, despite not recognizing Toadbert's voice at all, and he then learned the Body Slam, making him capable of activating switches that are hard to press by just stepping on them.

"GAHAHA!" Bowser laughed in glory. "I did it! That was awesome!"

" _Maybe you should try that move out around there?"_ Starlow suggested.

"Huh. Yeah. Let's slam something."

Bowser tries this move on the nearby pink switch, and that eventually removed the wall blocking the way out of the tower.

"Not too shabby! I can use this!" Bowser remarked.

" _That's good for you."_ Starlow said.

"Alright, I've wasted enough time! To Dimble Wood!"

" _Aw, but we already got that first Star Cure…"_

"You WHAT?!" Bowser's eye twitched in anger.

" _Oops…"_

" _Thanks a lot, Sta-… I mean Chippy!"_ Mario glared at Starlow.

"How… HOW DID YOU EVEN FIND IT?! WASN'T IT AT DIMBLE WOOD?!"

" _Well, the thing is, you actually ate the sage with the Star Cure alongside with the carrot you ate. The sage was what was causing you that stomach ache."_ Mario explained.

"So the first Star Cure was INSIDE MY BODY all along?! Goddammit!"

" _Bowser, could you please calm down? Remember that we're working together! If we get the Star Cures instead, we should be able to break the barrier at Peach's Castle! After all, you want to take it for you, right?"_

"Hmm… I guess you're right, Mario. Fine, I'll leave the Cures with you." Bowser sighed. Then, something came into his mind: "Hold on, if I recall, since you're the ones who's gathering the Cures, I think I've snatched one of them from an old Koopa and kept it with me at my castle in a safe!"

" _You mean you have a Cure with you already?"_

" _And that old Koopa must be Kuzzle! So you stole from him?"_ Melissa asked.

"Yeah, I ended up trashing his house since I was in a rage, and stole the Cure from him. Well, I'll head back to my castle and find the safe."

Bowser then leaves the tower.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Another Star Child is revealed! And one of the Star Cures was obtained! Until then! Please review.  
**


	16. Revenge of the giant

**Finally done with this chapter!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Revenge of the giant**

Upon exiting the Tower of Yikk, Bowser spotted Private Goomp up ahead.

"Is that… HEY! Hey! Private Goomp! Hold up!" Bowser called out.

"Kuh-King Bowser! You're OK!" Private Goomp exclaimed as Bowser walks to him.

"Of course! Where are the others? What happened to Sergeant Guy and Corporal Paraplonk? Aren't they your unit?"

"Yeah… When you got all giant back in Dimble Wood, we kinda panicked and ran to avoid being crushed. So while we were, uh, retreating, we must've gotten separated in the forest somehow… Now it's just me."

"Oh really…"

"Sir, what brings you to this area?"

"Uh… Well… I'm on my way to my castle so that I can get a Star Cure."

"Oh! You mean that Star Cure that Kuzzle on Plack Beach gave it to you for doing a puzzle? I thought that was probably garbage and that you'd just stolen it since you're awesome. But either way, it's definitely in the underground treasure chamber of your castle."

"FYI! FYI! FYI!" a little voice came in.

Bowser and Private Goomp turned around and saw a white bird. That was Birdley, a bird owned by Dr. Toadley.

"Message for Mr. Mario, Mr. Luigi, Mr. Yoshi, Mr. Wario, Mr. DK, Princess Peach, and Mr. Violent Face-Puncher!" Birdley chirped. "Now connecting to Dr. Toadley in Toad Town! Please give your attention!"

The collar on Birdley's neck glows, and an image of Dr. Toadley showed up and he spoke:

"Ah… Check one! Hello? Aha! Are we connected? Ahem. Have I just discovered the identity of the second sage? I certainly have. The second sage is a sea Koopa named Kuzzle who lives on Plack Beach."

"GAHAHA!" Bowser laughed. "Brilliant! So it really sounds like that guy's Star Cure is already in my castle!"

"And did I see that Mario, Luigi and their friends got the first Star Cure already? Indeed I did. Congratulations!" after finishing talking, Toadley disconnects and Birdley flies off.

"Well, I'm making for my castle! The cure is in the underground treasure chamber, right?" Bowser asked.

"Yes, sir!" Private Goomp nodded.

"Great! I'm gone! To my castle!" Bowser walks forward, but notices that Private Goomp isn't following. "And what're gonna do?"

"I… Uh… Once I find Sergeant Guy and Corporal Paraplonk, we'll head straight for your castle."

"Fine! Whatever!"

Private Goomp then leaves.

* * *

 _ **A few hours later…**_

Once Bowser finally went inside his stolen castle, he goes to the left side of the theater and uses Body Slam on a switch to open the door leading to his underground chamber. But when he reached the entrance, it was shut!

"Whoa whoa WHOA! What's the deal here? The passage to the underground is blocked! Stupid…Fawful…" he muttered at the last sentence.

He had no choice but to find another way to get in. He fought some Jailgoons along the way, until he reached a room where a Fawful statue was placed.

"Oh man, nice statue! Talk about tacky! SMASH TIME!" Bowser smirked and was about to punch it until he realized something: " _Hmm… Wait…_ " he noticed a dead end right up ahead. " _Right below here… The underground's that way… THAT'S IT!_ " he cracks his knuckles and begins to push the statue.

Then, a pair of Goombas came out of a door and saw Bowser pushing the statue.

"OH NO!" one of them cried.

"Oh, not good! Fawful's statue!" the other piped up.

"Midbus, Viverna and Fawful aren't here, man! We're the only ones who can stop this!"

"Dude… What?! He's too strong!"

"Get the gang in the castle! HURRY!"

The other Goomba nodded and went inside.

"Here goes!" the Goomba who's left walks towards the statue and pushes it.

Soon, a group of Goombas, Parakoopas, Dry Bones, Boos and Shy Guys came in and worked together to push the statue back.

"Open your eyes, minions!" Bowser yelled as he was pushed back. "Guys! Some help here!"

" _What is it now?"_ Mario asked.

"My brainwashed minions are pushing me back! I need you to stimulate my legs! Quick!"

" _All right, leave it to us."_

Mario and his gang rushes to the Leg Outpost and start the same muscle jumping minigame again.

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" a Goomba yelled.

"THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME?!" Bowser yelled back as he was gaining strength on his legs because of Mario and Luigi stimulating his leg muscles.

Once Mario and Luigi stomped each muscle at the same time, Bowser pushed the statue even further than before, reaching past the halfway of the room.

"HOLD FAST!" the same Goomba from early struggled.

Once Bowser managed to push the statue all the way to the dead end, he calls out:

"Everyone push at once! We can do this!"

"Okey-Dokey!" Mario exclaimed while stomping on the muscle on the left. "Get ready! In three…two…one… NOW!"

He and Luigi stomped at each muscle once again for one last push.

"OH YEAH!" Bowser yelled for power as he pushes the statue with mighty force, and was even able to make it break through the dead end's barrier, causing the statue and all of the minions to fall down.

The statue then falls through the underground's entrance, breaking it and falling through many floor layers until it reached the underground. Bowser then slammed down and destroyed the statue.

"We did it!" Bowser fist pumps.

" _I guess Bowser is finally learning to work together, it seems._ " Melissa thought with a smile.

Bowser then moved on. After dealing with Sniffle Thwomps, Thwomps who apparently got the flu somehow, Bowser came upon some Bob-ombs trapped in a cage. He hears their cheers:

"HE'S HEEEERE!"

"BOWSER'S HEEEERE!"

"FINALLY!"

After that, Bowser punches the cage, freeing the Bob-ombs.

"FREEEE!"

"YESSSS!"

"AT LAST!"

"HE DID IT!"

"WOO!"

All of the Bob-ombs begin to wander around him, cheering the same thing until Bowser calls out:

"Hey! Guys! Minions! Calm down!" but they wouldn't stop. "CHILL!" he growls annoyed and breathes fire at them. But he shouldn't have done that…as he lit some of the Bob-ombs' fuses. "AAAAACK!" these Bob-ombs exploded on his face.

They then joined Bowser, making him able to use Bob-omb Blitz in battle.

* * *

 _ **More walking later…**_

Bowser finally reached the door leading to his treasure chamber.

"Ah, the room where I keep my sweetest stolen treasures… This is one place that stupid Fawful NEVER could break into!" Bowser grinned as he enters through the door. But then, once he emerged out… "NOOOOOOOO! WHAAAAAAAAT?!" He found out that there was a train track in the room and part of the treasure was gone, so that means Fawful did manage to break through this room. "HOW?! WHO?! WHY?!"

"Your Surliness!" Private Goomp's voice came from the entrance. "I found Sergeant Guy and Corporal Paraplonk!" then the other two members of the Elite Trio walk in.

"King Bowser! Awesome seeing you again, sir!" Corporal Paraplonk exclaimed.

"Our sweep of the castle indicates it is intact, sir!" Sergeant Guy informed.

"Intact?!" Bowser raised an eyebrow as the Elite Trio approaches him. "Look at this train track!"

"Whoa!" Private Goomp inspected the train track. "Who put a train track down here?"

"Next stop…Bowser Castle…" a voice came out of nowhere.

In an instant, a train shaped like Fawful's head came in and came to a full stop in front of Bowser.

"Now arriving at the always-run-down-falling-apart-dirty-nasty-thanks-to-Bowser-Castle!" the same voice spoke before some Monty Moles came down from the train.

"Hey! It's you idiots! Explain all this NOW!" Bowser demanded.

"Yeah… Well, bro…" one of the Monty Moles chuckled.

"As you can see, the secret tunnel project you ordered is finally finished, broski!" another Monty Mole added.

"Yeah, remember, brotown? You helped us drill this tunnel!" another one remarked.

"Bah! I mean, I DID, but… I don't remember telling you to build a railway directly into my SECRET TREASURE CHAMBER!" Bowser growled.

"Bro! This secret tunnel got bought out by the Fawful Foundation! It was a buyout, brodington! Get me? A BUYOUT!" the remaining Monty Mole exclaimed.

"Thanks to the sweet cash infusion, we outsourced the hole drilling to some other bros." the Monty Mole from the beginning threw in.

"So now we're elite employees of Lord Fawful! The salary's great, brodie! Insane benefits!"

"Trust me, this Fawful Express that Lord Fawful built is SUPER awesome. Wanna ride, brotron? Although… Come to think of it, bro, it's a pretty pricey ticket. Maybe too posh for you."

"Even if you sold this cruddy old castle…you still can't afford it!"

"WAHAHAHA!" all of the Monty Moles laughed, causing Bowser to grow furious. In fact, he was so furious that he blew them away by breathing fire.

"TREASON!" he roared.

"King Bowser! Sir!" Private Goomp called. "You'd better not make enemies of those guys!"

"Yeah, for real!" Corporal Paraplonk warned. "Besides, uh, didn't you come here looking for a Star Cure?"

"Oh yeah! The Star Cure! It must be in this room!" Bowser said.

"The Star Cure must be… It must be secured in that safe, sir!" Sergeant Guy pointed to a safe at the upper-left corner of the room.

"Oh… You mean that one?" Bowser asked as he stands over the train track.

"All aboard Fawful Express!" a Monty Mole announced, and the train began to move towards Bowser.

"NOOOOF!" Bowser gasped as he tries to hold back the train by pushing it, but he was being pushed back, destroying some rocks in the way.

He was being pushed back more and more, until…

"Doh." He accidentally tripped on a small rock and let go of the train.

With that, the train rams him right into a large boulder, crushing him.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Bowser? Hello…?" Starlow called out.

"I think he got crushed again." Luigi guessed.

"Well, you know what that means…" Mario said. "To the Rump Command again."

They went back to the Rump Command, where they revive Bowser again with adrenaline and make him grow big.

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

"Bro, was Bowser a pushover or what?" a Monty Mole raised an eyebrow.

"Totally. Lord Fawful is gonna be loving us." The other Monty Mole answered.

"I mean, you compare Bowser to the Fawful Express, and it's like, 'Broski. Dude is PUNY.'"

"BAHAHAHAHAHA!" they both laughed.

All of a sudden, the train's lens broke apart, and a huge flamethrower showed up.

"Uh-oh… What in the…" one of the Monty Moles' eyes widened.

Suddenly, once the fire dyed out, two huge eyes were glaring at them, making them jump and scurry off.

"BRO NO!" the Monty Mole yelled as he looked up from the train's top, seeing Bowser as a giant looking down at him.

"Heh heh! SHOWTIME!" Giant Bowser smirked.

"Danger, bros! What do we do?" the Monty Mole asked as the train turns around.

"It's all good, bro! Check it out!" the Monty Mole driving the train spotted something at the distance.

There was a weak bridge at a bottomless pit all the way up ahead just past a train station. The same Monty Mole informed:

"Brodingtons! Look! Over there! A rickety bridge! That thing will collapse under this guy's bulk! And then he'll fall allllllllll the way into the valley! This big dude is going DOWN!"

"Nice, big bro! Total genius!" the other Monty Mole complemented.

"Let's cruise straight for the bridge station! If we can pass that station, we win, bro! Distance to the bridge station is 100 kilomoles!"

"Oh, don't you dare!" Giant Bowser growled before beginning to move after them.

"He's coming! MOVE!" the Monty Mole demanded.

The train driver quickly sprints forwards with Giant Bowser following behind. Once the train reached the first station at 87 kilometers, it stopped.

"We stopped! Everything OK?" the Monty Mole asked.

"Worry not, broskits! That guy's punch is no prob!" the train driver assured. "Unless he spits fire, we'll take ZERO damage!"

"Niiiiice, big bro! I can already hear the dude crying!"

"That's what you'll see!" Giant Bowser yelled as he breathes fire at the train.

The train then sends out a group of four Choombas at Giant Bowser, but he stomped them. After breathing fire at the train again, Giant Bowser saw it moving once again and wasted no time in chasing after it.

The train once again stopped on another station at 73 kilometers. Giant Bowser breathes fire at it, making the train appear badly damaged and with burn marks. It then sends out more groups of Choombas, only for them to get stomped again. After suffering another fire breath, the train moves again.

At 55 kilometers, the train passed under a spiked arch that reached almost Bowser's size, stopping the big guy on his tracks. It then sends out a Fawful Missile at Giant Bowser, and he quickly reacts by punching the arch as much as he could to break it and evade the missile.

Next, at 46 kilometers, the train went inside a giant grassy hill where it became a fighting robot called the Fawful Mountain in order to fight against Giant Bowser.

"Better make repairs while he's occupied!" the Monty Mole said as he begins to fix the train.

"Not on my watch!" Giant Bowser shouted before breathing fire at the Fawful Mountain, burning it down instantly.

"…Crud!" the Monty Mole interrupted the repairs and told the train driver to move.

There was another spiked arch at 24 kilometers and Giant Bowser punched through it again to avoid the missile, resuming the chase. The train stopped at another station on 15 kilometers, giving Giant Bowser the chance to breathe fire again at it. Then, the train sent out Monty Moles with jetpacks carrying bombs this time. One of them flew next to Giant Bowser to try to hurl the bomb at him, but he punched the Monty Mole, sending him at the other ones, knocking them down at the train, damaging it more.

Soon, the train finally reaches the bridge station, but it was nearly falling apart.

"End of the line!" Giant Bowser smirked as he does one last fire breath at the Fawful Express, blowing it up along with the Monty Moles.

With that, Bowser returns to normal size and lands on the train track.

"GAHAHAHA!" he laughed. "That all you got, train?! Bowser wins again!" he looks around. "So… What was I doing?" he then remembers: "That's right! The Star Cure! Better go check that safe back at the castle…"

He makes his way back in his treasure chamber.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **What's going to happen next? Let's find out soon! Please review.**


	17. The second Star Cure and a betrayal

**Next chapter done!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: The second Star Cure and a betrayal**

Back at the treasure chamber, the Elite Trio saw Bowser returning.

"King Bowser! You're OK?!" Private Goomp exclaimed.

"Of course!" Bowser replied.

"That Star Cure is in the safe, I'm so sure!" Corporal Paraplonk assured.

"Yeah, I remember!" Bowser walks to the safe's door. "I didn't know what the thing was, but it looked pricey, so I stuck it in this safe…"

"Begin safe incursion, sir!" Sergeant Guy said.

"Mmm." Bowser proceeds to turn the safe's wheel, but he froze, catching Private Goomp's attention:

"King Bowser? Something wrong?"

"Uh…Bowser?" Corporal Paraplonk rose an eyebrow.

"…I forgot it." Bowser said blankly.

"Sir?" Sergeant Guy spoke.

"The safe combination… I FORGOT IT!"

"WHAT?!" Private Goomp flinched.

"NNNNGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! C'mon, you stupid brain!" Bowser punches his head to try to remember. "Stop being stupid, and remember the stupid combination!"

"Your Forgetfulness! Get ahold of yourself!" Corporal Paraplonk tries to settle Bowser down.

"Haah… Hooooo… Haaaaaaah… No use… Can't remember…" he panted. Then, he calls for the group inside his body: "HEY! GUYS! COME IN, CHUMPS!" this left the Elite Trio confused.

" _No need to shout! We hear you."_ Starlow told.

" _So you forgot the safe combo, huh?"_ Wario guessed.

"Yeah, I did, but you can find it! Look around inside my head! It's in there somewhere! FIND IT!"

" _Your tone… I don't like it."_ Melissa scolded.

"WHAT?!"

" _That haughty, commanding tone of voice! I don't like it! No one should tell others to do something in this tone! Go help yourself!"_

"What the… HEY! Find it!"

" _Not doing it until you ask nicely. Star people like me only respect those who act nice."_

" ***sigh*** find it…please?" Bowser lets out a sigh and changes his tone.

" _Hmm… That's not enough."_

"Find it…pretty please?" Bowser speaks in a much calmer tone.

"… _Alright, that's better. The inside of your head is fragile, so stay totally still."_

" _We'll go look. Be right back."_ Mario finished.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"OK, this is it! Nobody'll get that Star Cure without the safe combination, so we'd better help Bowser." Starlow said.

"All right, let's head for Bowser's…head!" Mario told everyone, pausing a bit at the last sentence.

The group went all the way up to the Memory Banks, located obviously in Bowser's brain. We can see nerve cords at the ceiling part, with the ground being the brain's surface. The background could be showing the interior of a neuron. The heroes could hear noises coming from the brain's operation.

After going down an elevator made out of dendrites, they reached the area where all of Bowser's memories are stored just like an organized bookshelf and there was some sort of computer thing at the middle.

"Wow, Bowser's memory banks… It's surprisingly neat and tidy…" Starlow looked around.

"Never expected it to be like a library…" Yoshi commented.

Just then, a strange being teleported out of the computer, startling Starlow in the process as it scans her. It then teleports in front of Mario and his friends and scans all of them. The being became speechless for a moment as Starlow flies to it:

"Ah… Um, hi. We'd like the combination to Bowser's safe, please…"

The being starts spinning around crazily while speaking:

"VIRUS ALERT! VIRUS ALERT! VIRUS ALERT!"

"That doesn't sound good…" Melissa backs away a bit.

Then, the being broke into six different groups of debris: one red, one green, one lime-green, one yellow, one brown and one pink.

"What the…" Starlow murmured.

Suddenly, the debris assembled, creating a blocky copy of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Peach!

"WHAT?!" the group yelled.

"Database has been breached by virus of likely malicious origin!" Bowser Memory M spoke.

"Data backup complete!" Bowser Memory L added.

"Launch repulsion program!" Bowser Memory Y said.

"Repel virus!" Bowser Memory W said.

"Repel virus!" Bowser Memory DK repeated.

"Repel virus!" Bowser Memory P finished.

"REPEL VIRUS!" all of the memories shouted at once before charging for the heroes, but they moved out of the way.

"We're fighting clones of ourselves?!" Peach spoke horrified.

"It seems like it." Donkey Kong said as he glares at his clone. "We'll have to take them down if we want Bowser to remember the code."

Bowser Memory M gets a Super Mushroom Memory to grow big and two green Brick Blocks showed up. It hits them, sending the larger debris at Mario, but he destroyed them with his hammer. Then, a Koopa Troopa Memory comes from behind Memory M and touches it, causing it to shrink back to normal size.

"Looks like each of our clones have the same moves as all of us, so keep that in mind, everyone!" Mario warned as he punches his clone.

Bowser Memory L takes out a Hammer Memory and trips, causing it to fly to the air, about to land on Luigi. Thankfully, he deflects it with his hammer and stomps his clone. But then, after this attack, Memory L retreats.

"…Did my clone just run away?" Luigi questioned confused.

"Hmm, I guess it must be reflecting your cowardice and also your clumsiness." Mario pointed out.

"My clumsiness?"

"Of course! Didn't your clone just trip when he was attacking you with a hammer?"

"Oh, right. Then that means not only our clones have the same moves as us, but also our personalities!"

"You're right! So we'll have to-… LOOK OUT!"

Mario saw Memory M grabbing a Star Memory and becoming invincible as it goes after him and Luigi. The Mario Bros managed to move out of the way before getting hit.

Bowser Memory Y did a Yoshi Bomb at Yoshi, but he dodged it, wrapped his tongue around his clone, and flipped it over him. Then, Memory Y takes out an Egg Memory and throws it at Yoshi, but he threw his egg at the same time and both eggs broke in contact with each other. However, Memory Y latched its tongue at Yoshi and sent him at the Mario Bros.

"OOF!" the trio groaned from the impact.

This gave a chance for Memory M to bring out his Hammer Memory and whack them, but Mario quickly pulled out his hammer and both hammers' heads met. Mario struggles to push his clone back, and does it successfully, giving time for Luigi and Yoshi to recover.

"Thanks for saving our heads, Mario!" Yoshi thanked.

"No problem!" Mario replied. He continues to fight his clone. Just then, Memory L came back.

"About time!" Luigi exclaimed.

Then, a Boo Memory came from behind Memory L, causing it to run away while going after Luigi, but he jumped to avoid being rammed. Memory L starts running in circles around Luigi until he finally stomps the Boo Memory. With that taken care of, Luigi attacks his clone with a well-timed Super Jump Punch, sending it into the air. Upon landing, Memory L attempts a Green Missile at Luigi, but it ended up misfiring it, giving Luigi the chance to do a lunging kick at it.

Bowser Memory W and Wario kept throwing bombs at each other, but the bombs keep hitting each other, creating small explosions.

"Alright… I've had enough!" Wario growled as they both ran to each other and punched, but this caused both of them to blast a few feet apart from each other.

Bowser Memory DK hurls a Barrel Memory at Donkey Kong, but he did a Giant Punch to send it back. However, Memory DK dodged out of the way.

"Let's see how you like this, mate!" Donkey Kong smirked, doing a Hand Slap to knock his clone into the air. While Memory DK was in the air, Donkey Kong does a Spinning Kong at it. Memory DK then attempted a Stubborn Headbutt at Donkey Kong, but he jumps above his clone and once he landed on the other side, he claps his hands to send a shockwave, knocking his clone a few feet away from him.

Peach attempts to do a Peach Bomber at Bowser Memory P, but it countered by tossing Vegetables Memories at her, sending her to the ground.

"Ugh!" she groaned from the impact. "Gee…I got some skill." She said, looking at her clone, seeing it dashing towards her while holding a Golf Club Memory. "However…" she smirked, pulling her frying pan and knocked Memory P away from her, making it drop the golf club. "…frying pans are stronger than golf clubs!" she finished.

Melissa decides to help the Mario Bros to take down their clones by sending shooting stars raining at them. This knocked out Memory M with ease, since it had less HP than Memory L.

"We got one down!" Mario exclaimed.

"Hold on, what's my clone doing?!" Luigi noticed that Memory L was throwing a 1-Up Mushroom Memory at Memory M, and it got back up!

"What the-?! Are you serious?!" Mario didn't believe that.

"Of course! Bowser's memories of the brothers also behave just like Mario and Luigi!" Melissa realized. "Luigi has more stamina than Mario, so it's up to him to heal and revive his brother whenever he's in danger…"

"So that means we'll have to take them down at the same time?" Luigi asked.

"That's right."

"This is going to be tough... Especially when none of the other clones are defeated." Mario sighed before going back to battle.

After avoiding Memory Y's Egg Roll, Yoshi latches his tongue at it, but accidentally swallows it. With that, the poor dinosaur had no choice but to lay it out, and was having trouble with that. Melissa noticed that and thought:

" _He must be having troubles laying his clone out, so I'll give him a hand._ "

She concentrates, and with that, a golden aura appears around Yoshi's body.

" _Is this…the aura from the Star Children? I'm feeling much stronger, so it must be!_ " Yoshi thought happily. " _Alright, I can do this!_ "

Yoshi uses all of his strength and to his surprise, he laid a gigantic egg rather than a normal one.

"Whoa! Did I just lay a Mega Eggdozer?! That's awesome!" Yoshi exclaimed. "Here it comes!" he lifts the Mega Eggdozer and throws it.

The Mega Eggdozer immediately crushed Memory Y, but that's not all: the Mega Eggdozer also traveled towards the other Bowser Memories, and it ended up also crushing Memory W, Memory DK and Memory P respectively. Now the only memories remaining are Memory M and Memory L.

"Did I just saw a giant egg passing by and defeating our clones?" Donkey Kong questioned.

"Yep! That was me!" Yoshi chirped. "It appears that I'm also a Star Child!"

"You are?"

"Let's leave this for later. Right now, we have two more memories to take down." Melissa came in. "I actually have a plan. Come with me!"

Then, Melissa, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Peach quickly built a large blue pipe with two yellow rotating arrows printed on it. Once they were done, Melissa calls out:

"Mario! Luigi! Use this Spin Pipe to finish your clones!"

She sends the Spin Pipe to them after they nodded to her. The pipe stands above the brothers as they get on top of each other. The pipe falls down on them and flies into the air while spinning. The pipe falls down at Memory M with Mario, who was at the bottom, stomping it before it flies back into the air. The pipe falls down again, but this time, at Memory L, with Luigi stomping it since he was the one at the bottom.

With that, the two memories faced defeat with the rest, and Mario and his crew stood victorious. Suddenly, all of the six memories merged, becoming a blocky version of Princess Melissa!

"WHOA!" everyone flinched in shock.

"Affirmative. Correct." Bowser Memory PM spoke. "I manage the memory banks in this facility. I have failed to repel you from the area. But that is no problem. I have switched to a temporary observation protocol instead. Affirmative. Correct."

"Why did you take my shape?" Melissa asked in a somewhat awkward tone.

"Affirmative. Correct. I have taken on the form likely to aid communication with you. It is based on the host's most carefully preserved memory."

" _Wow, who knew that Bowser is also showing respect to Melissa as much as Peach?_ " Mario thought surprised. He then cleans his throat and tells Memory PM: "Well, you see… We came here so that we could know the combination to Bowser's safe."

"Affirmative. The…safe?"

"Yes, there's a very special item inside it but Bowser can't remember the combination for some reason."

"Affirmative. Correct. The safe combination. Danger-avoidance protocols have unilateral failure. Affirmative. Correct."

"Failure? What does that mean?" Luigi asked.

"Are you saying that the combination isn't here?" Starlow questioned.

"Negative. Incorrect." Memory PM answered. "The combination is here."

"How so?" Peach asked.

Memory PM then shifts back to its original sphere shape, known as Bowser Memory Neuron, and begins searching through the memory library.

"Let's see… Drumsticks… Steaks…Mario…Princess Peach…AHA!" Memory Neuron finds the memory and pulls it out of the shelf, showing it to the heroes. "Affirmative. Correct. This is the combination."

"But…what happened to it? It's all blank!" Starlow said. "Did this memory shatter somehow?"

"Affirmative. Correct. There was large-scale trauma. This memory was broken when the Fawful Express rammed the host."

"Oh… No wonder why he can't remember the combination!" Mario confirmed.

"So how do we get it back?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Just put all of its pieces back together. Affirmative. Correct." Memory Neuron answered.

"Like a jigsaw puzzle? This might take a while…" Luigi sighed.

Everyone worked together to rearrange the memory for the combination. After they were done, the safe's combination was revealed: 9898 88241 983.

"We did it!" Starlow exclaimed.

"Affirmative. Correct. Memory has been restored. Correct." Memory Neuron said.

With that, Memory Neuron flew back to the empty spot on the shelf and inserted the memory back. In an instant, Bowser's eyes widened, finally remembering the combination as he cracks his knuckles.

"That's… Yeah! That's IT! Now I remember!" he exclaimed. He turns around to the safe and moves its wheel while singing: "9898 Doop-de-doo… 88 241 Bowser-oo… 983 Whoop-de-WOO!"

Eventually, the safe opens, revealing the Yellow Star Cure inside. Bowser takes it.

"GWAHAHAHA!" Bowser laughed in glory. "Unh! I did it, guys! I got the second Star Cure!"

"King Bowser! There's something else inside that safe!" Private Goomp said.

"What?! Where?" Bowser asked as he peeks inside the safe…and he was pushed inside of it by the Elite Trio. "Ow! Hey! Minions! What're you doing?! LEMME OUTTA HEEEEERE! OPEN THIS DOOOOOOOR!"

"Heh heh." Private Goomp snickered. "The age of Bowser is… OVER!"

"Now is totally the Age of Fawful! Definitely!" Corporal Paraplonk said.

"Lord Fawful will reward us well for this noble act, men! Can you say 'extra rations'?" Sergeant Guy added.

"VICTORY!" the Elite Trio cheered.

"Stupid minions! You idiots fell under Fawful's control at some point, huh? THIS IS MUTINY!" Bowser roared from inside the safe, realizing that his minions have betrayed him.

"Yeah, I guess…" Private Goomp stated. "So we oughta toss this thing somewhere, right?"

"But where?" Corporal Paraplonk asked.

"Hmm… Where…" Sergeant Guy pondered. "…Ah. There, perhaps?"

Inside the safe, Bowser was banging the walls as hard as he could, but he couldn't get out. Just then, he stopped once he realized that he was being carried.

"HEY! YOU LOUSY MINIONS! Where are you taking me?!" he growled. "YOU TRAITORS! LEMME OOOOOUT!" suddenly, the safe was flung into somewhere, causing Bowser to hit his head on the ceiling: "OWWWW!" once it stops, he calls out: "HEY! HEY! SOMEONE ANSWER ME!"

Nobody answered… Well, except for the ones inside his body.

* * *

 _ **Back inside Bowser…**_

"Did you all listen to that?" Starlow asked, and the group nodded.

"It sounds like they tossed the safe somewhere…" Yoshi pondered.

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

"Hey! Guys!" Bowser called for the heroes inside his body. "Make me giant again! Then I'll bust outta here!"

" _Unless you get in mortal danger, we can't do it!"_ Starlow warned.

" _For now, you just need to sit still and act like an adult."_ Melissa told.

"Crud." Bowser lamented.

" _Anyway, what about the Star Cure? You got it, didn't you?"_ Mario asked.

"Of course I got it! This stupid thing is the reason I'm in this fix!"

" _Well, since you have it with you and we're inside you, then how about you eat it so we can retrieve it? After all, you agreed that we should get the Star Cures."_

" ***sigh*** fine… Here goes."

Bowser then eats the Star Cure, and Mario and his crew sets off to the Gut Check to retrieve it. There, the Star Cure fell from above, looking all…sticky and gross.

"Ew…" Luigi cringed.

"At least it's ours now." Mario shrugged as he takes the Star Cure.

"I feel bad for Bowser, but we should head back outside." Peach told. "Plus, we can't do anything in here."

"One more Star Cure left… Do you know where the third sage is, Melissa?" Starlow asked.

"Yes. Chakron, the last sage you're looking for is at Plack Beach, atop some cliffs." Melissa answered. "Let's head back to the Pipe Yard and find the pipe that'll lead us directly there."

They all nodded and exited Bowser's gut.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **What do you think about how I wrote the fight against the memories of Bowser? Well, until the next chapter! Please review.  
**


	18. The third Star Cure

**Next chapter done!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: The third Star Cure**

After the group went back to the Pipe Yard, they looked around and wondered which pipe could take them to Plack Beach. Then, something came on Yoshi's mind and he asked Melissa:

"Say, back at the fight with our memory clones, did you give your blessing to me so that my power of the Star Children could release?"

"I did. You're a Star Child as well, Yoshi. It seems like you were able to lay a giant egg instead of a regular one with the power of the Magical Star inside of you." Melissa answered.

"That leaves three more remaining…" Starlow stated.

"Well, how about we split up and head to one of those pipes?" Mario suggested. "It looks like only three are accessible right now."

"Good idea." Peach nodded. "I and Yoshi will take the blue pipe, Wario and DK will take the yellow one, and Mario, Luigi and Starlow will take the black one."

"Alright, I'll be staying here until you come back." Melissa said.

The group nodded and split up to head inside each chosen pipe.

The blue pipe took Yoshi and Peach at Blubble Lake while the yellow pipe took Wario and Donkey Kong at Cavi Cape. Both duos decided to explore their respective areas a bit to see if they could find anything interesting that Bowser missed.

* * *

For Mario, Luigi and Starlow, the black pipe took them…to Bowser's Castle.

"Great… Why did it have to take us to Bowser's Castle?" Luigi facepalmed.

"Hmm… Fawful really did such a remodel in here." Mario looked around.

"Hey, Mario!" Starlow called out. "That room over there… There's something there."

"And how do you know?"

"Call it Star Sprite sense. Something's just not right…"

The trio went into the room Starlow just pointed out and found three red buttons positioned in front of a door.

"Those sure are some giant buttons, huh…" Starlow inspected the three buttons. "You think the door in the back opens up if we press those things?"

"Strange… I've been exploring Bowser's Castle for so many years and I don't remember this room…" Mario puzzled.

"Maybe you missed some hints about this room in the castle or something…"

The trio went towards each button and pressed them at the same time. Once they did, Mario hammers the green button in the door to open it.

"It opened!" Luigi exclaimed.

"I wonder what's in the other side?" Mario wondered.

"Listen, Mario, I don't know what's in there, but I get a REALLY bad feeling about it…" Starlow warned.

They all took a deep breath and went in. On the other side, they found themselves in a cold room like a giant freezer. Up ahead above some metal platforms were very familiar beings frozen in the ice…

"Brr… It's quite chilly in here!" Luigi shivered.

"I can barely see something inside those ice cubes, but they're showing something that we've seen before…" Mario squints his eyes to try to see what's inside the cubes.

"I can also see it, but I'm not familiar with it at all." Starlow said.

"Say, what does this button do?"

Mario walks to the red button on the left and presses it with his hammer. Suddenly, the room began to shake as it became steamy, causing the first three ice cubes to melt…revealing three Shroobs! Both Mario Brothers gasped in shock as the Shroobs collapsed on the floor.

"What are they?" Starlow questioned.

"NO! NOT THEM AGAIN! ANYTHING BUT THEM!" Luigi went in utter panic as he covers his face with his cap.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I…can't believe it! I thought all of them were gone for good after two months!" Mario said in shock.

"What's with you two?!" Starlow wanted to know.

"Starlow… Me, Luigi, Sonic, Tails and our younger selves encountered these aliens called Shroobs that invaded the Mushroom Kingdom two months ago. We managed to defeat them, but I never knew that some of them survived and ended up in here at Bowser's Castle! Just why are they here?"

"I guess Bowser must have grabbed some of the survivors and cryogenically frozen them…" Starlow guessed. "As always, his hobbies are pretty much pure evil."

Just then, the Shroobs woke up and noticed the trio.

" **%$* &#$!" **the Shroob in the front spoke. **"( &%#$*)!"**

The three Shroobs then jumped off the platform and aimed their laser guns at the trio.

"OH GOD!" Luigi flinched.

"We have no choice but to take them down again…" Mario glares at the Shroobs as he stands in his fighting stance. "Even without Sonic and Tails or our younger selves, we can do this!"

The Shroobs fired their laser guns at Mario and Luigi, but they dodged them. The brothers quickly absorb their Fire Flower since they already knew that fire and ice are the Shroobs' weakness and started shooting fireballs at them. They managed to defeat one of them, probably because that one was the weakest.

The two Shroobs fired a quick laser at each Mario Bro, and they didn't had time to dodge, so they were hit by the lasers, causing the Fire Flower's effect on them to wear off.

"Ouch… That's a new one…" Luigi groaned.

"Hmm, in that case, let's try this Star Candy!" Mario pulled out the Star Candy from his pocket, and it split into two so that both brothers could eat it. After eating their Star Candies, some of their health was restored and their bruises were gone.

"Wow! This is actually very tasty!" Luigi exclaimed.

" _Thanks for this item, Melissa._ " Mario thought with a smile.

The bros used the Spin Pipe in order to finish both Shroobs, and the latter were knocked on the ground before exploding.

"Golly, that was scary…" Luigi shuddered.

"Yeah… Alien invasions are no fun!" Starlow remarked. "What I can't believe is that you and your friends defeated those things as kids! Only you could do that, Mario!"

"Hey! What about me? I fought hard as well!" Luigi interfered.

"Oh, is that so?" Starlow asked. Luigi nodded. "Heehee! Did you attack them with some ferocious crying?" she mocked. This made Luigi very disappointed that he cresfalls.

"Actually, it was thanks to Luigi's younger self that we managed to find the weakness of the Shroobs, which were baby tears, as weird as that sounds." Mario explained. "And because they're the same person, you should be thankful for Luigi as well, Starlow."

"Really? Oh… Wow. I'm sorry, Luigi. You really are super." Starlow apologized.

"I am? Yay!" Luigi lifts his head in happiness before jumping in joy.

"Yes, you're both super."

"Wait… What's this?" Mario noticed something green sparkling on the floor. He leans close to it and saw what appears to be a key's pin with two bits. "I think this piece dropped by the Shroobs' remains!" he picks it up.

"This appears to be a piece of some sort of key…" Starlow pondered. "Maybe one of our friends might know about this piece. So let's quit dawdling and get back to work!"

"Yeah! Let's get the heck out of here!" Luigi said.

They exit Bowser's Castle through the same black pipe.

* * *

 _ **Later…**_

Everyone regrouped back inside the Pipe Yard and rejoined with Melissa.

"So, how did it went?" she asked.

"Well, we only found a couple of pieces belonging to some sort of puzzle at Blubble Lake." Peach told.

"We found a sack containing lots of puzzle pieces too at Cavi Cape." Wario added.

"And we found what appears to be a key piece at Bowser's Castle." Mario finished.

"Interesting. Could I see those puzzle pieces first?" Melissa requested. Peach, Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong showed her the puzzle pieces and she immediately recognized them: "Hey! Those are the puzzle pieces belonging to Kuzzle, the second sage!"

"Alright. What about this key piece?" Starlow asked as Mario shows the piece.

"Wait! That's a piece of one of my castle's keys!" Peach exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Yes! This key, the Green Key, unlocks the door leading to the pedestal that'll let us access a shortcut to Star Shrine! But how did it got broken into pieces?"

"We're not so sure, but we need to find the rest of the key pieces if we want to head to Star Shrine after breaking the barrier in Peach's Castle." Melissa said.

"But the problem is; none of the pipes led us to Plack Beach." Donkey Kong shook his head.

"Well, one of the pipes led you at Cavi Cape, right? If we go through there, we can access Plack Beach!" Melissa exclaimed.

"All right! Then let's go!" Mario fist pumps.

"Actually, would you mind sitting in here for a while, Mario?" Melissa spoke to him.

"What?"

"Since I'll be the one speaking to the sage, I'll have to disguise as someone since I'll be outside of Bowser's body again."

"Oh, right. So you'll disguise as me?"

"Mmhm."

"Okay, I'll wait here, then."

Melissa then takes out her Magical Rose and uses it to disguise herself as Mario, still keeping the rose brooch.

"I'll make sure to guide you all the best as I can!" ***Melissa** assured, speaking in Mario's voice.

"Good luck!" Mario waved as the group went in the yellow pipe.

* * *

Outside, once they exited Cavi Cape and reached Plack Beach, Yoshi asked ***Melissa** :

"So, where is the last sage located?"

"The last sage, Chakron, is located at the very top of those cliffs in the distance. We just have to head north to reach them." ***Melissa** pointed.

"We're going to climb all of that?!" Wario flinched.

"Yes. It's not that hard, actually."

The group walked all the way to the north and climbed the cliff of Plack Beach. After some minutes of climbing, they finally reached the top, where they found a purple octopus with a pink mouth and pink tentacles motionlessly meditating.

"The mists of consciousness part, and seven figures emerge. Why?" Chakron questioned. "Here, in this place, Chakron meditates on the nature of all. It is Chakron's special place. And outsiders who disturb the mental peace are not welcome."

"We didn't mean to disturb you, Chakron." ***Melissa** said. "You might not believe it at first, but I am Princess Melissa, and I came here with my friends to talk to you."

"Hmm? Melissa, the princess of the stars?" Chakron raised an eyebrow. That is, until he noticed the brooch on the overalls' right strap on ***Melissa** , and his eyes widened. "Oh! Chakron is very surprised! It's been a while, your highness. But why are you disguising as a different person?"

"I'm doing this because I'm hiding from a certain enemy that wants to break the seal on the Dark Star. I'm sure you know that I'm the only one who can break the seal."

"Yes, I do. And if you're doing this for your safety, I understand. Anyways, what do you want to talk about?"

"Melissa told us that you have a Star Cure, and we really need it!" Starlow interfered, flying next to Chakron.

"You are a very strange being. Popping out of nowhere. Odd." Chakron said. "Besides, I am very busy."

"And what are you busy with? You're just standing here doing absolutely nothing!" Wario scolded.

"Truly? Look up."

The group looked at the sky, seeing it filled with stars from the Star Realm, but were still confused.

"And…?" Wario questioned.

"You look at the sky and this pose and still do not know?" Chakron asked. The group nodded. "You are unenlightened. That is why you are in a cosmic pickle. This pose absorbs waves from the deep parts of outer space. The waves crash upon my mind's shore. I am a mental beach. With the power of outer space upon me, I can do anything. Of late, large waves have rolled in, and wisdom surfs upon them. My brain hangs ten. And how long have I surfed? A thousand years. A thousand."

"A thousand years?! Why don't you take a break already?! Everyone needs breaks!" Starlow stated.

"In truth…I would enjoy that. Meditation does grow tiresome. But breaking out of my state of perfect balance will be hard. A thousand-year balance… My body rhythm is like stone. I'll make a deal: If you somehow found a way to break such an impenetrable rhythm, the Star Cure…is yours."

Luigi then walks toward Chakron and does some poking and tickling on his tentacles. But Chakron scoffed:

"No. Do not be childish. Tickling and poking do nothing. This balance can only be upset by some sort of POW! Some sort of drastic event."

"Oh." Luigi stops poking and tickling. "If that's the case, we should use all of our strongest moves."

"Sounds like a good idea, mate." Donkey Kong agreed.

Yoshi then begins by throwing Egg Bombs at Chakron, but they did not make him budge.

"Nope." He shook his head.

"Yeah, that was too weak." Yoshi remarked.

Peach did a Peach Bomber at Chakron next, but nothing.

"Seriously?" Peach was surprised.

Wario went after him with his Wario Bike move, but not even that made him tilt.

"Oh come ON!" Wario growled.

Donkey Kong, being the strongest of the group, did a fully charged Giant Punch at Chakron, but like usual…nothing. He then attempts a Hand Slap instead, but once again…nothing. "This isn't working! Starlow! Could you give your blessing to me?"

"Sure!" Starlow nodded and concentrated, causing a golden aura to appear around Donkey Kong.

"Now we're talking, baby!" he smirked.

He grabs hold of Chakron's head and does his best to push him to the ground. However, despite being so strong, Donkey Kong wasn't even able to move Chakron an inch.

"WHAT?!" Donkey Kong didn't believe that. His aura disappears.

"Step out, ape! Let me try it again!" Wario shoved Donkey Kong out of the way and did his strongest shoulder tackle at Chakron, but he was still holding perfect balance.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Wario was losing his mind.

"Wow… He's really tough…" ***Melissa** murmured.

"Nothing! I feel nothing!" Chakron said. "Not even close. Not a wiggle. Not a single astral shimmy. Give it up."

"No… I'M NOT GIVING UP!" Wario yelled as he continues to use shoulder tackles at Chakron.

"Unless we find another way of knocking Chakron down, Wario's going to be doing this all day…" Yoshi sweatdropped.

" _Hmm, hold on… 'Astral shimmy'? That's it!_ " ***Melissa** thought. She starts concentrating; who is she giving the blessing to?

"Eh?" suddenly, Wario stops doing shoulder tackles once a golden aura appears around his body. "Hey! Is that… Of course!" he cracks his knuckles while smirking. The rest of the group looked at him astonished.

"Wait, Wario is a Star Child?!" Yoshi wasn't expecting that.

"No way!" Luigi flinched.

"Melissa! Did you give him your blessing?" Peach asked.

"I did." ***Melissa** nodded. She then tells Wario: "Wario! Do an attack that makes you shake the ground!"

"An attack that shakes the ground? Got it!" Wario replied. "In that case… Time for my Butt Smash!"

He jumps into the air and slams his butt to the ground. All of a sudden, as soon as Wario's bottom touched the ground, a very strong and HUGE shockwave emerged in all sides, and miraculously, that shockwave was enough to knock down Chakron's meditating pose!

The rest of the shockwave also killed every single enemy Plack Beach has, blew the Chakron statues placed around and knocked down the rest of the heroes. Everyone were in utter shock after that.

"Oh…my…god." Peach was speechless.

"What did I just watch…?" Yoshi's eyes widened.

"I know Wario is nearly as powerful as I am, but DAMN!" Donkey Kong yelled in surprise.

"Okay… I'm officially scared of him more now…" Luigi gulped.

"THAT. WAS. **AWESOME**!" Wario yelled in excitement while fist pumping. "Thanks a lot for your help, Melissa!"

"Um, you're welcome…" ***Melissa** replied awkwardly.

The group on the floor got back up as Chakron speaks:

"This new pose displeases me… And gluing all those posts back together will be very tiresome. And now a thousand-year pose has fallen into the past's void. Outer space waves will crash now on an empty mental shore… I requested my balance upset, but did not believe. How sad. But I am already over my saddened state. I am at peace."

The group became speechless. That is, until Starlow broke the silence and demanded impatiently:

"Hey! Hand it over!"

"No, I do not feel like it now. Leave me at one with the sky." Chakron refused.

Starlow's eye began to twitch in anger, in which the group noticed.

"Uh oh, here it comes…" Luigi warned as the rest of the group covered their ears.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU'RE A SAGE! YOU MADE A DEAL WITH US! SO YOU MUST FULFILL IT!" Starlow yelled furiously.

"Yes… I made. Wait…a moment. I lack…energy…"

Chakron drags himself with his tentacles…and ends up falling down the cliff!

"W-Whoa! Hold up!" ***Melissa** called out as everyone panicked.

Just then, the green Star Cure flew up and slowly descended towards them. Chakron came back now doing an upside-down pose.

"I offer this!" he said.

With that, the group takes the last Star Cure. All three Star Cures were now in their possession!

"Oh. This new pose pleases me greatly. Waves of energy flow up from the earth to me. I shall now assume this pose for a hundred years. Well. If you would leave me to my meditations…"

"OK! We have all three of the Star Cures! Let's go back inside Bowser and let Mario know!" Starlow told.

"Thanks, Chakron. I hope you enjoy your new pose for as long as you can." ***Melissa** thanked.

"You're welcome, your highness. Let us hope that the bad guys won't ever find you."

The group waved to him and left Plack Beach.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Looks like I was able to add that optional part where the Mario Bros encounter the Shroobs! I had to add that so that they could explain more about that adventure to Starlow. And I also decided to add a new 'quest', which will be the hunt for the three Green Key pieces. The thing is, I'm going to be including all three keys from Peach's Castle: the Blue Key is the one recommended, the Red Key unlocks the door where the Magikoopas are imprisoned, while the Green Key just unlocks a door to get a piece of clothing. Because of that, I decided to give the Green Key a different role, which will be gaining access to the shortcut to Star Shrine. The hunt for the keys will begin at the next chapter.  
**

 **Wow! Who would expect that Wario's Star Child power is the only one able to knock down Chakron's pose? I wanted to change the purpose so that I could reveal that Wario is a Star Child since I couldn't find another way for that. But don't worry! I WILL include the part where Mario gets kidnapped by the Sockops at Dimble Wood! This will show up at the next chapter when the group will search for the other two Green Key pieces.**

 **All of the Star Cures are in our heroes' possession! Now the only things remaining are assemble them and to find the key pieces to access Star Shrine aka Melissa's Castle! Until the next chapter! Please review.**


	19. The Green Key and the Miracle Cure

**Did some more changes in my profile that includes chapter uploading schedule, a new future story and a new favorite character!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 19: The Green Key and the Miracle Cure**

The group returned to the Pipe Yard, where they found Mario waiting for them. Melissa removes her disguise before she and the others told Mario everything that happened. After the explanation, Mario spoke:

"So we have all three Star Cures, and now we'll have to hunt for the other two pieces of the Green Key?"

"Yes. That way, we'll be able to access the room with the pedestal." Peach nodded.

"Hey! Don't forget that we discovered that I'm a Star Child!" Wario exclaimed. "Mario, you really should of have seen that! I knocked Chakron down with a powerful Butt Smash!"

"And knocked us too…" Luigi sweatdropped.

"Wario is a Star Child?! So that leaves two more left!" Mario's eyes widened.

"And these last two are just the ones that Fawful doesn't know, so he needs the Dark Star to guide him to these last two." Melissa explained.

"Hold on, are you saying that Fawful already knew that I, Peach, Bowser, Wario and DK were Star Children?" Yoshi guessed.

"Unfortunately, you're correct. But as long as the Dark Star's seal isn't broken, Fawful will never know who the remaining two are."

"Alright, we have all three Star Cures now. What do we do?" Starlow asked.

"Maybe we should hunt for the other pieces of the Green Key. I've heard from the star people that one of the pieces are with Kuzzle, and the other one is somewhere at Dimble Wood. I suggest that Peach, Yoshi, Wario, DK and Starlow head to Kuzzle, while Mario and Luigi head to Dimble Wood."

"Okay." Peach nodded.

"Kuzzle lives in a house next to the cliffs of Plack Beach. I'm pretty sure you'll have to solve his puzzles before he could give you the key piece. And Mario and Luigi, try searching for the swampy area of Dimble Wood, but be careful of the sock creatures! I'll wait for your arrival."

The group nodded before heading to the green pipe, since they haven't entered in it yet.

* * *

That pipe took them to Dimble Wood. Peach, DK, Wario, Yoshi and Starlow went south in order to reach Plack Beach while Mario and Luigi pressed on into the woods.

Once they found a short stone wall, Mario peeked into the small gap and noticed something green hiding in the grass.

"That has to be the other key piece!" Mario exclaimed.

"But how are we going to get through?" Luigi asked.

"Simple. Luigi, make me small."

"Oh! Okey-Dokey!"

Luigi takes out his hammer and whacks Mario to turn him small. Mini Mario jumps into the small gap and grabs the key piece, which was the Green Key's mushroom-shaped bow.

"I got it!" he cheered, unaware of four odd-shaped creatures coming to him.

On the other side, Luigi saw a nearby exclamation point mark block and was about to hit it, until…

"WOOAAHH!" he suddenly heard Mario's scream. He went back to the small gap and peeked into it, and gasped at what he saw:

"OH NO!"

He saw Mario, still in his mini form, surrounded by four sock creatures called Sockops. In an instant, the Sockop on the right snatched Mario before all of them took off.

"MAAARIOO!" Luigi cried out.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, with the group at Plack Beach…**_

They were in Kuzzle's house, solving a puzzle with the Puzzle Sack they had so that the old and deaf Koopa could give them the other key piece. But things are getting complicated for them:

"I'm…not good with puzzles." Starlow sweatdropped.

"Let's see…I think this piece goes here…" Donkey Kong guessed.

"No, I think you got it backwards…flip it the other way." Yoshi corrected.

"Like this!" Wario grabbed another piece, flipped it around and it stuck together.

"This is going to take a while…" Peach sighed. "I wonder how Mario and Luigi are doing?"

* * *

 _ **Back with Luigi…**_

"Man, I can't believe this is happening the second time…" Luigi sighed as he walks around, remembering back last year at the Beanbean Kingdom where he had to find a medicine to cure Mario's illness, even though he doesn't remember how he got the medicine since he was hypnotized.

However, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ended up falling down from the ledge…into a giant Sockop. Inside, he found Mario inside the Sockop's gastric chamber!

"Mario!" Luigi exclaimed.

 _ ***RUMBLE…***_

"Huh? What the…"

The giant Sockop took a step forward back outside, which caused that rumble from before. Just then, the Sockop used a suction ability to suck in some Scutlets.

"WAAAH!" Luigi yelled in panic as he saw the Scutlets landing in front of him. He had no choice but to fight them alone in order to rescue his brother from being digested.

Once he defeats all of them, Luigi quickly rushes to Mario, who was starting to get digested in the gastric chamber.

"Luigi! Help me! I'm being digested!" Mario called out.

"Don't worry, bro! I'll get you out somehow!" Luigi assured as he hammers the gastric chamber's wall.

All of a sudden, the whole place started to shake. The giant Sockop had 'X' eyes and back inside, the place shook violently, causing both brothers to panic.

"WHOOOOA! WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Luigi panicked.

"L-LUIGI…" Mario couldn't finish when the gastric chamber flattened before stretching back and sending out a geyser of acid, launching Mario out of the Sockop.

"AAAAAHH!" he screamed as he flew off to another portion of the woods.

Then, the giant Sockop began to shrink into the size of a normal Sockop, with Luigi still inside of it. The Sockop still looked dead as Luigi's head pops out of it.

"Eh? What happened?" he wondered…until he looked down to realize that his body was inside the Sockop and let out a shriek of fright. He then tries to pull himself out of the Sockop, but after two attempts, he couldn't get out; he was stuck in the Sockop. "Great…" he muttered.

He begins to hop around the woods to look for Mario with the Sockop like a Kuribo's Shoe, also able to sneak into the enemies' territory, because for some reason, he was able to communicate with the other Sockops, even if the Sockop he was riding on was their boss looked…dead.

Once he reached the swamp area's limit, he saw three Sockops fighting over the Green Key piece, with Mario lying on the ground in front of them, unconscious.

"Mine!" one of the Sockops said.

"No! Mine!" the other one said. "I found it first! Not you! Me! So I get to chug it!"

"You're such a hog, Kuribo!" the previous Sockop replied.

Luigi then approaches them, and they all looked at him.

"Whatchoo got?!" the same Sockop from earlier asked. "You gonna chug that green thing?"

"Give it to me! I'll chug both the red and green!" Kuribo begged.

"You pig! You got a green object in your hole RIGHT NOW!" another Sockop growled.

Kuribo 'spits' out the Green Key piece and glares at the Sockop that growled at it: "I'm sick of icky objects!"

"No way!" the other Sockop hissed. "The red one is all mine!"

"NUH-UH!" the remaining Sockop replied angrily.

While the Sockops were occupied, Luigi went over to Mario and called out:

"Mario! Wake up!"

This caught the Sockops' attention. Mario woke up instantly and was shocked to see Luigi inside of a Sockop:

"Whoa! Luigi, what happened?! Why are you inside this Sockop?!"

"Long story…" Luigi rolled his eyes.

"What's this craziness?! That guy's not a Sockop?!" the Sockop on the middle said shocked.

"I'll help you out." Mario said as he removes the Sockop on Luigi.

"Whew…" Luigi sighed in relief.

Once the Sockop was removed from Luigi, both brothers shared their brotherly moment, sharing a hug together. Eventually, the Sockop that presumed dead came back to life.

"Whoa… What… That was weird." It spoke.

"You crawled into a KO'd Sockop and hopped around." Kuribo realized. "That's just sick!"

"Whatever. It worked out!" the Sockop on the right exclaimed. "Now we can chug both those guys at once!"

"Mine!"

The brothers pulled away from the hug just in time when the Sockops charged for them and managed to dodge them.

The brothers then wasted no time and killed all of the Sockops with their hammers since jumping wouldn't work.

"Well, that takes care of them." Mario said.

"Oh, man… If I'm ever going to have to save you again in another dark forest of some sorts, I'm going to scream." Luigi muttered.

"Some sorts? Like what?" Mario asked.

"I don't know. I just hope it's not a forest filled with Boos…"

"You don't have to worry, Luigi." Mario smiled. "Now, how about we get that key piece and head out?"

Luigi made a nod before the brothers walked over to the key's bow and picked it up.

* * *

Once they left the swampy area of the woods, they saw Yoshi, DK, Wario, Peach and Starlow coming to them.

"Boys!" Peach called out as they approached Mario and Luigi. "We were getting worried about you, so we decided to search for you."

"It's okay, princess! We're fine." Mario replied.

"Did you find the key piece? We have ours right here." Peach asked as she showed the Green Key's stem.

"Yup!" Mario showed the key's bow.

"Great! Now we can assemble them together!" Starlow exclaimed.

They worked together to assemble the key. Once they were done, the key pieces were assembled into a single Green Key.

"Yippee! We did it!" Yoshi cheered.

"Now we have all three Star Cures and the key to Peach's Castle! Let's head back to Bowser's body and ask Melissa about how to assemble the Star Cures!" Starlow told.

The group nodded and went down the same green pipe to access the Pipe Yard again. There, they asked Melissa on how they are going to assemble the Star Cures.

"Hmm, I'm not sure how despite being a star person. I'm sure Dr. Toadley will know what to do."

"So we better head off to his office!" Starlow said.

"Starlow, could you do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

"I'll be heading out of Bowser's body again since in order for us to access my castle from Peach's Castle, we'll need my rose brooch so that we could place it on the pedestal. So I decided to disguise as you."

"Oh, okay. So that means I'll have to stay in here?"

"Not necessarily. You could hide in Mario's pocket while I take your place."

"Sounds like a good idea!" Starlow then flies to Mario. "Mario, would you mind if I hide in your pocket?"

"Sure." Mario nodded and Starlow flew into his pocket.

With that, Melissa used her rose to disguise as Starlow. After that, the group went inside the orange pipe to take them to Toad Town.

* * *

They rushed to Dr. Toadley's clinic and showed the three Star Cures to him, making him jump in surprise:

"Incredible! Have all three Star Cures been found? They have! And did I ever doubt you guys would find them? Never!"

Toadley then raises his hands in the air, and the Star Cures gathered in a triangle formation releasing sparky trails. Toadley moves his hands as the Star Cures started to coalesce with each other slowly before merging into a single blue star with the red, yellow and green small stars jointed together into the star.

"Whoa…" everyone except ***Melissa** looked at it astonished.

"That's it! That's the Miracle Cure! A star that can cure any type of illness in the Mushroom World!" ***Melissa** exclaimed.

"Indeed." Toadley nodded.

"With this we can cure the blorbs and destroy the blockade at my castle!" Peach said.

"Hold it, princess. Let's ask one thing at a time of our Miracle Cure." Toadley spoke. "CUUURE!" he snapped his fingers to make the star fly out of his room and into the clinic, where all of the blorbed Toads were.

In an instant, the Miracle Cure released sparkles at the Toads, curing them from their terrible disease, including the ones scattered at the town.

"What? What was that?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Must I chuckle? I must. Go outside and you'll see." Toadley chuckled. "As expected, I have…trounced the blorbs!"

"The blorbs are cured?! Oh, thank goodness!" Peach sighed in relief.

"Ahem! Is it time to go? It is! To the final battle! The Miracle Cure will smash that blockade!"

"I'll hold on to the Miracle Cure for you." ***Melissa** takes the Miracle Cure with her.

"Thanks for everything, Dr. Toadley!" Peach thanked.

"Will the blockade fall to that cure's power? It certainly will. But will it defeat the Dark Star? That, we simply do not know. The power of the Dark Star's darkness is unfathomable…"

"Actually, it will." ***Melissa** nodded. Everyone looked at her. "Combined with the power of the star people and the Star Children, it can form into the ultimate weapon that can destroy the Dark Star."

"Really?" the heroes' eyes widened.

"Mmhm."

"Well, first we'll get to Peach's Castle, and then we'll use our power to do…something." Yoshi stated.

"YOU WILL!" Toadley announced. "Will you guys make it happen? You will! Do I need my crystal to tell me that? I do not!"

"Yeah!" the heroes fist pumped.

"Let's get a move on! To Peach's Castle!" Mario grinned.

Everyone nodded and exited the clinic, getting ready to storm the castle.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **There's a hidden foreshadowing event in this chapter! Can you find it? Stay tuned for the next chapter! Please review.  
**


	20. Infiltrating Peach's Castle Garden

**Just four more chapters for me to finish this story!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Infiltrating Peach's Castle Garden**

Upon exiting the clinic, they heard a Toad's voice:

"DR. TOADLEEEY!"

The Toad rushed to the clinic's entrance, where he found the group.

"Oh! Everyone! You hear the huge news?! The blorbs are cured! They cured it!" the Toad exclaimed.

"We did, Toad." Peach nodded. "Looks like the Mushroom Kingdom is safe from the blorbs, at least."

"Yeah! Dr. Toadley RULES! Now the mall will be JUMPING!" he then rushes into the clinic.

"Well, the blorbs are all taken care of. Now all we have left to do is to defeat Fawful… So let's use the Miracle Cure to destroy the castle blockade!" ***Melissa** said.

"Hmm, you know, I think it's best for us to do some shopping first for items. Who knows what we will encounter up ahead?" Mario suggested.

"My bro has a point. We should look for the mall at the west." Luigi finished.

The group nodded and went to the mall.

* * *

 _ **Some shopping later…**_

"Did you get everything we need, Mario?" Yoshi asked.

"Yep. I bought a couple of Mushrooms, 1-Up Mushrooms, Nuts, Syrup Jars and Refreshing Herbs." Mario checked his items.

"Okay, I think we're set now." ***Melissa** stated.

"Let's go! To Peach's Castle!"

The group wasted no time in heading to the blockade. Once there, ***Melissa** takes out the Miracle Cure, and eventually, circles of red, yellow and green lights coalesce into the star before sending out a laser beam of these three colors at the Fawful walls, penetrating them. Then, the three small stars pop out of the star, destroying the walls in the blink of an eye.

"Not bad, huh…" Wario remarked.

"Let's go!" Mario said as everyone crossed the bridge.

* * *

They approach the gates leading to the garden. Peach opens them and everyone went inside. On the other side, they saw that everything in the garden was dull and deserted, the statues of Peach had Fawful's head on them, and Mechawful Bodies and Metal Mawful Moles were patrolling this dull garden.

"Whoa… Such a mess…" Mario looked around.

"My… What did Fawful do to my place after Bowser sucked us in?" Peach asked.

"Dull remodeling, that's what." Donkey Kong answered, not amused.

"Alright, so where is the door leading to the pedestal?" Luigi asked.

"It's located at the backyard, and of course, the Green Key will open the door there." Peach answered. "We'll have to go around the courtyard to reach there."

The group ventured in the gardens, solving some puzzles and fighting some Mechawful Bodies and Metal Mawful Moles that tried to get in their way. Soon, they noticed that the backyard became a trash site. There, Mario saw something hidden in all of this junk; it was a simple picnic basket with a strawberry wheel to open it.

" _I wonder what's this? Maybe I should take it._ " He thought before picking up the basket.

Then, they saw a pink trash can in the middle of another pile of junk.

"Nothing but trash…" Wario stated.

"MUH MUH MUH!" suddenly, they heard Midbus' laugh.

He came in by a hover board, with Viverna flying at his side.

"You guys… You seem familiar. Have we met before?" Viverna smirked.

"Soon Fawful will have Princess Melissa and take over her castle. And you go no farther than how far you are!" Midbus said.

"What ARE you?! Do you have a KO wish?" Wario glared at Midbus.

"You amuse me. I have fought Bowser. You are much fatter." Midbus teased. That was too much for Wario: his eyes twitches in anger and growls:

"Well, bring it on, then! C'mon, give it your best shot!"

"You speak rudely. And I permit it just this once… Soon Dark Star's seal breaks. And soon means later! Try to interfere with it, and taste my wrath!"

"Mmhm… Send your special weapon, Midbus! I'll be lurking behind the scenes!" Viverna snickered as she flies away.

Midbus takes out a remote control and presses a button, causing the immobile trash can to spring to life, gaining mechanical arms, legs and two yellow eyes.

"He is of trash. And you are. You, trash. I call you trash." Midbus said. Go be trashy in this trash hole with this trash robot forever! Go! Super Ultra Great Mega Trashy Monster Junker Bot!" he presses another button, but that caused Junker's eyes to shut and become immobile, and the heroes looked at each other in confusion. "What?! Nothing?!" Midbus didn't believe that. "Move. MOVE! Stupid junk!"

Then, Junker's eyes opened, and the heroes immediately stood in their fighting stances. However…Junker pulled out a radio and pressed play on it…and out of all the songs to play…it had to be _**Jump up, Super Star**_ , the main theme from _Super Mario Odyssey_ … With that, Junker began to dance to it.

"WHAT?! No one pressed 'dance'! You are broken!" Midbus gritted his teeth.

"Oh! This song is my new JAM!" Mario cheered, as he started to dance to the music. In fact, the rest of the heroes just shrugged and started to dance too.

"Are you serious…" Midbus muttered.

"Wow! Who knew Pauline was such a good singer!" Peach exclaimed while dancing like if she was on a dance floor. "Turn it up high!" she told Junker, who nodded back and raised the volume.

"WHOOO!" the heroes cheered.

The volume was so high that it even reached Viverna's ears.

"What is going on here?!" she questioned as she flew next to the location and peeked on the other side of a wall, only to see the heroes dancing with Junker. She first got mad at that, until she saw Mario and Peach deciding to dance jazz together. "Hmm, actually, that couple really got some nice dance moves." She commented.

Back with the dancers, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, DK and ***Melissa** watched Mario twirling Peach around during their jazz dance and their friends cheered for them.

"This should NOT be happening!" Midbus' eye twitched. "JUNKER! WORK WITH ME!" he smashes the button he used to activate the robot, but it didn't respond and instead, it would dance right next to Luigi and Yoshi.

"Well, I would say that this machine has some wicked dance moves." Viverna spoke back at the wall. "Especially when it's jazz."

Soon, the song ended, and everyone cheered with Junker high-fiving them…while Midbus was extremely pissed off:

"STUPID PIECE OF JUNK!"

He angrily smashes the remote control on the ground, causing Junker's eyes to become red.

"Oh. Well, good. Now you work." Midbus said pleased. "Trash these trashguys!"

"Aww, do we seriously have to? I was kinda of having fun back there." Yoshi questioned disappointed.

"Seems like it." Mario replied. "We've already had our fun, but that trash can robot is our enemy."

"Mario is right. Let's take it down!" Peach finished before Junker charges for them.

Junker summons six Junker Cans and they charge after each hero, but they countered back, with Mario and Luigi using their hammers, Yoshi hitting it with his tail, Wario punching it back, Donkey Kong's Giant Punch, and Peach's tennis racquet. Yoshi and Wario then threw an Egg Bomb and a Bob-omb respectively at both Junker's 'hands', blowing up inside and it received some damage, giving a chance for Peach to do a Peach Bomber at Junker's body.

Junker then sends out a bucket and it fell on Mario's head. Junker took this advantage to take out a Thwomp and throw it at Mario, now blinded by the bucket. ***Melissa** managed to push Mario out of the falling Thwomp's way just in time before removing the bucket from his head.

Junker sent out three Junker Cans and flipped them upside down to make a Cheep Cheep, a Bob-omb and a Scutlet come out and attack the heroes, but they dodged them. Junker then throw balls of metal scrap at them, but they moved out of the way, however, Donkey Kong managed to pick up one of the balls and hurl it at Junker, leaving it dazed, giving the chance for Mario and Luigi to attack it with the Jump Helmet.

Junker then did another trick: he uses his vacuum hands to suck Luigi and trap him in one of the four Junker Cans. Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Peach took care of Junker while Mario stomps the correct Junker Can in order to free his brother. They then worked together to defeat the other Junker Cans.

Just then, a Chain Chomp and a Fishbone came out of one of the Junker Cans and charged after Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Peach, but they dodged them.

"I think it's time to test this thing out!" Mario pulls out the basket he had found in the junkyard, the Snack Basket.

"A basket? Where did you find that?" Luigi asked.

"I found it hidden in the junk. Let's see how this works out!"

Mario tosses the Snack Basket into the air and it opens, sending out lots of sweets like donuts, ice creams, cookies and cakes. Luigi opens his mouth and proceeds to eat all of the falling sweets. Upon eating all of them, suddenly, Luigi became very huge and bloated, causing the rest of the group's jaws to drop.

"HOLY BANANAS! HE'S HUGE!" Donkey Kong's eyes widened so much that they popped out in cartoony-style.

Luigi jumped and landed on Mario, who used every strength he has to lift the abnormally fat brother up and toss him. Finally, Luigi body slams the ground, creating a HUGE shockwave, but not as huge and powerful as Wario's empowered Butt Smash, and it hit Junker.

"I don't know WHAT the heck happened, but that was awesome." Luigi smiled after he turned back to normal and high-fived Mario. He then turned around only to see the rest of the group still in utter shock and with their jaws dropped. "Uh…what?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, look over there…" ***Melissa** pointed at Junker.

Junker went haywire and dashed crazily at the other pile of junk behind the heroes, and it came back holding a large safe, tossing it to the other side of the large junk pile. Once the safe hit the platform on the other side, it broke, freeing Bowser, who was lying on his belly, unconscious.

"Bowser! His safe got tossed into this junk depository!" ***Melissa** told them.

"Oh, that poor turtle ended up here? How unfortunate…" Viverna came back with Midbus.

"You again?! What do you want?!" Wario hissed.

"It rages me how you trashed Junker, but this is far from over!" Midbus said.

"That's what you'll see!" ***Melissa** growled as she flew next to the evil duo.

"Hmm? HOLD ON A SECOND!" Viverna saw something suspicious in ***Melissa**. She ended up noticing the rose brooch that was on ***Melissa** 's head when she turned into Starlow. Her eyes widened as she spoke: "That rose brooch… ***loud gasp*** Midbus! That is not a Star Sprite! That's the real Princess Melissa in disguise!"

"WHAT?!" Midbus yelled.

The heroes gasped in horror; Viverna has found the real Melissa right in front of their eyes!

" _Oh… I really should of have removed my brooch before disguising myself…_ " ***Melissa** thought saddened.

"At last, I've found you, Melissa!" Viverna smirked evilly. "Now, remove this worthless disguise!"

"Hey! I'm not worthless!" Starlow came out of hiding and glared at Viverna.

"So the real Star Sprite was hiding all along… Well, time for the fun to begin!"

She creates a green poisonous cloud and sends it at ***Melissa** , causing her Starlow disguise to be removed. Melissa gasped once she returned to normal, but even more when Viverna wrapped her up with vines growing from the ground.

"Now that you've finally showed up, it's time to break the seal on the Dark Star and take over Melissa's Castle! Midbus! Let's go!" Viverna demanded.

"Yes, Lady Viverna." Midbus nodded while grinning evilly. "Soon, darkness will reign over the Mushroom Kingdom! MUH MUH MUH!"

Viverna picked up Melissa and takes off into the sky while carrying her, causing the vines to strap off of her.

"MELISSA!" the heroes cried out.

"Heroes!" Melissa called out. She then pulls out her rose brooch from her gown and a window from her pocket. "Catch!" she tosses both objects down, with Mario catching the window and Peach catching the brooch. "Place my brooch at the pedestal to access my castle immediately! And Mario, what you're holding is another item that I made; the Magic Window! Please hurry!"

Soon, Melissa, Viverna and Midbus were nowhere to be seen. Now Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Peach and Starlow were the only ones standing in this area.

"Melissa… No…" Peach whimpered. "The Dark Star will be freed, and now the only thing remaining is for it to absorb the power of the Star Children, and darkness will cover this world… I'm afraid it's too late…"

Mario then looked at the Magic Window at his hand and the rose brooch on Peach's hand. He then spoke in a determined tone: "No. It's not too late yet." Everyone looked at Mario as he continues: "Look, we might not arrive in Melissa's Castle in time and we might not know the last Star Children, but we can still chase after Fawful, who could be residing in the Star Realm right now. We still have time to reach the door at the backyard and open the shortcut. Isn't that right?"

"That's it! After all, we do have Melissa's brooch and the Green Key!" Starlow exclaimed.

"Mmhm! So, what are we waiting for? The sooner, the better!"

"Right! The door is right over there!" Peach pointed.

The group walked to the closed green door and Mario inserts the Green Key into its keyhole. The door opens, and they found a circular field with a blue, yellow and pink star-shaped pedestal at the middle. It had a circular hole in it, probably where the brooch is inserted.

Peach approaches the pedestal and inserts the brooch on the hole. Eventually, the pedestal glows, and a white trail of stars showed up right in front of it, leading up to the skies.

"This is it; if we travel to this road of stars, we can reach Melissa's Castle in no time." Peach said.

They were about to walk on the road of stars, until Mario spoke:

"Wait, I think we should let Bowser head there instead."

"What?! Are you crazy, bro?!" Luigi flinched.

"Why, Mario?" Starlow asked.

"That's because he might stand a better chance at storming Melissa's Castle. Besides, he'll end up taking us along, since we'll remain in his body for the rest of this infiltration."

"Right… You might have a point there." Starlow nodded. "Let's go!"

They found a pink pipe right to the left of the pedestal. They went inside.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Who would expect that I took the part where Junker started to dance into a whole new level? I wrote this small dance party to add more humor to this story.  
**

 **Oh no! Melissa has been kidnapped! The next chapter will reveal the last two Star Children, but I'm pretty sure it's obvious of who they might be! Please review.**


	21. The last two Star Children

**Next chapter done!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 21: The last two Star Children**

Upon returning inside Bowser through the pink pipe, Starlow immediately calls for him:

"Hey! Can you hear us?! We need your advice!"

"Owwwch… Oh man, my… Ow… My back hurts…" Bowser groaned.

"Back? You hurt your back?"

"I can't move at all… Owwwch ouch ouch… Do… Do something now… I mean… Do something…please."

"Oh, for crying out loud… You are such a pain…"

"Starlow, don't be so mad. After all, we can find a way to fix him." Peach said.

The heroes made their way to the Lumbar Nook, located obviously in Bowser's lumbar vertebrae. The ground and the background were the same, showing the cells of the lumbar vertebrae, some were lit and the others weren't. Upon arriving in this area, they saw Toadsworth!

"Well, fancy meeting you here, Princess and Masters Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario and DK… Whatever brings you all to a place like this, hm? It's quite odd—for some reason this place soothes my soul… Ho ho… I feel rather at home, like it's my very own room!" Toadsworth said.

" _Never expected him to say that…_ " Luigi thought while tilting his head.

"We're here so that we could find a way to fix Bowser's back. He somehow ended up hurting it." Mario explained.

"Hmm, now that you mention it, the floor here did just darken and become rather hard. No doubt Bowser's back injury is the cause." Toadsworth replied. He walks to a suspicious spot at the middle of the area and looks down while speaking: "Ah, indeed, quite right. This strange protrusion appeared only moments ago, as a matter of fact."

"Eh?" Mario tilted his head. He decides to walk to the protrusion in the ground and inspect it. "I think… I think I and Luigi can stimulate this spot."

"We can? How?" Luigi asked.

"By using Drill Bros, duh! We can dig under this narrow hole and find Bowser's pressure points to heal his back!"

"Good thinking, bro!"

Mario and Luigi stood over the protrusion and used Drill Bros to dig under.

"HO HO!" Toadsworth exclaimed. "I daresay it's working! Yes, sloooowly working!"

"Does this means this will take a while?" Yoshi asked.

"I think so." Peach answered. "Say, while we wait for the Mario Brothers, why don't we enjoy a nice and relaxing cup of tea?"

"Hey, that sounds good!" Starlow replied.

Peach then made some tea for everyone as they all sat down to have a conversation together.

" ***slurp*** Ahhhh! Princess, your tea never fails to calm me down. Teatime is so restful…" Toadsworth remarked once he took a sip of his tea.

"Quite right. Teatime is for taking a break from all cares." Peach replied.

The group was relaxing, taking their time drinking Peach's tea.

* * *

 _ **A few seconds later…**_

Just then, they saw a faint golden glow in the ground as they started to hear some heartbeat sounds echoing around. They all stared especially at the golden glow in awe.

"Oho! Is Master Mario and Master Luigi almost done with the job?" Toadsworth wondered.

"Hold on! That glow…" Peach's eyes widened. "Are they coming from Mario and Luigi?!"

"I believe so! But I didn't give any blessings to them at all! That glow just came out of nowhere!" Starlow stated.

"Does this mean that… Mario and Luigi are…"

All of a sudden, the whole place brightened up again, and Mario and Luigi came back from the ground.

"I…suddenly felt a large amount of energy while healing Bowser's back…" Luigi breathed.

"Me too! Just what was that?" Mario questioned.

"Mario! Luigi! You did it! You healed Bowser's back!" Yoshi chirped.

" _Good job on that."_ Suddenly, Melissa's voice was heard.

"What the-… Melissa?" Yoshi piped up.

Then, a sparkling pink hologram of Melissa descended towards the heroes.

"W-Who are you?!" Toadsworth asked.

" _Fear not, Toadsworth. I am Melissa, princess of the stars."_ Melissa spoke.

"How are you able to communicate with us?" Donkey Kong asked.

" _Star people are able to separate their consciousness from their bodies in order to communicate with anyone further away from them. It's sort of like telepathy, but with our bodies showing. I am afraid that Fawful has already taken over my castle and Midbus and Viverna took me into Toad Town Caves and are now working on breaking the seal on the Dark Star. It will take a while for the seal to be completely broken, so you still have time."_

"Well, we decided that Bowser should storm the castle rather than us. But could you explain the event that happened earlier before Bowser's back was healed?" Starlow begged.

" _You see, I was the one who gave the blessing to Mario and Luigi so that they could heal Bowser's back much faster than normal."_

"Wait, are you telling us that I and Luigi…" Mario said astonished.

" _Yes. Mario, Luigi, you are the two remaining Star Children. The ones that Fawful doesn't know about. Now that all of the seven Star Children are revealed, you should team up and do your best to defeat Fawful and the Dark Star!"_

"You can count on us!"

" _Then I shall part for now. I hope I'll be able to communicate with you all again. Farewell."_ Melissa's hologram vanishes.

"Wow, who knew that we were the last two Star Children?" Luigi said surprised.

"So Peach, Bowser, DK, Yoshi, Wario, Mario and Luigi are the seven Star Children!" Starlow exclaimed.

"Yeah, but we must prevent the Dark Star for absorbing our powers." Peach stated.

"Uh oh… Guys, I just realized something. I think we made a mistake." Mario warned.

"What mistake?" Wario raised an eyebrow.

"Now that we know all of the Star Children, then that means Bowser is going to carry all of us into the castle and the Dark Star will probably find us!"

"Oh that's right! That could be a problem…" Starlow spoke with worry. "But now it's too late. Now that we healed Bowser's back, we'll have to risk going into the castle together."

Back outside, Bowser suddenly felt his back healed in an instant.

"OOOOH! My back! It's loosening up!" he yelled in excitement. He was able to stand up easily, and then does some arm stretches, and flexes his knees. "Oh yeah, baby! Limber as ever!"

" _Don't get too excited, or you'll throw it out of whack again!"_ Starlow warned.

"I'll stretch if I wanna! Besides, I feel even BETTER than I normally do! Check this out!" Eventually, Bowser curled up into a spiky ball. "I'm super flexible! I can do this now!" he starts rolling around the junkyard.

" _Whoa! Looks like my and Luigi's power of the Star Children really did some changes in Bowser's back!"_ Mario said astonished.

"Say what? You and Green 'Stache are Star Children?" Bowser stopped rolling as he got out of the pile of junk and asked.

" _We are! I guess with our power, we made your muscle loose and incredibly limber!"_

"Hm! That's so awesome! So, uh…guys! Where am I and what happened?!"

" _You are at my castle's backyard."_ Peach answered.

"Really?! Whoa! How'd I end up here?!"

" _Listen Bowser, Fawful's minions managed to capture Melissa and are now using her to break the seal on the Dark Star. You might have a few minutes to reach her castle and beat Fawful before the Dark Star's seal breaks. I'm warning you; be careful of the Dark Star. We can't let it absorb our Magical Stars sleeping inside our hearts!"_

"Oh, you mean the Star Children?"

" _Yes! I, you, Yoshi, Wario, DK, Mario and Luigi are the seven Star Children, and darkness will fall in the whole Mushroom World if the Dark Star absorbs our power! I feel that the Dark Star is awakening… You need to infiltrate Melissa's Castle as fast as you can!"_

"You don't need to tell me that, Peach! I owe that Fawful big-time! I'll storm Melissa's Castle immediately! So how do I reach her castle?"

" _Head into the green door next to where you woke up. You'll find a road made of stars leading to the skies. That is a shortcut that we opened back then leading to Melissa's Castle without having to traverse Star Hill."_

"Alright, got it! I'll be heading there!"

Bowser walked out of the junkyard and found the green door that Peach mentioned. He goes through it, emerging in the circular field where the road of stars was. With no time to waste, Bowser walked over the road, taking him to Star Shrine aka Melissa's Castle. Nothing has changed from the outside, but the same cannot be said from the inside. Bowser bursts open the front doors and walks in.

* * *

Melissa's Castle, now taken over by Fawful, looked a bit dull and dark because of the remodeling, the small cracks on the floor and the not perfect repairs with metal plates everywhere. The stained glass windows had Fawful's face printed on them, as well as on the deep pink platforms. Some of the columns with water flowing in were knocked down, showing all of the water spilled on the floor, wires, pipes and cables were attached to the walls and ceiling, green banners of Fawful's face were hung, there were extra platforms, traps and fences blocking some portions, and some specific rooms have changed drastically, like for example, what used to be the meeting hall became a dining room and so on.

"Man, what a remodel…" Bowser looked around. "Alright, time for me to find that bastard Fawful!"

He begins to explore around the castle that didn't feel as magical as it was before the takeover. The common enemies wandering around the many rooms were Naplocks, Alarm Bob-ombs, Dark Trashures and Dark Fawful Guys.

Later, after reaching a certain room at the second floor of the castle, Bowser saw two Fawfulcopters holding a blue and a red key in their domes.

"Fawfulcopters!" Bowser smirked. "Oh, hey, look what happened! Bowser's in Melissa's Castle! You were so full of yourself! Told you I'd make it here! GWAHAHA!"

The Fawfulcopter holding the Blue Key made a mouth come out from its bottom and Fawful's voice came from it:

"Fawful won't lie. Fawful has shock at you getting here, a nearly impossible place to reach. But that shock turns into chortles as you stop here! There are two doors here that need keys, and Fawful has them! You will wander forever in my modified castle of Melissa until you cry from lack of doors!"

"Pfft!" Bowser scoffed. "I'll break 'em down!"

"You have energy like a little angry battery with no friends. But even if you get past the doors, the castle of Melissa… Oh, but I have secrecy! Fawful says no more!" the Fawfulcopters then scatter around the castle. "Are you catching my Fawfulcopters?"

"That bastard…" Bowser muttered.

* * *

 _ **Hours of finding the keys later…**_

Bowser finally recovered the Blue and Red Keys from the castle. They looked similar to the Green Key, except that their bow was a star instead of a mushroom. Bowser decides to open the red door first, so he uses the Red Key on the red door. On the other side, he found his Magikoopa Troop trapped inside a cage as they were exclaiming:

"YOU GUYS! The door opened!"

"King Bowser!"

"OVER HERE! HEEERE! WE'RE OVER HEEEERE!"

Bowser punches the cage in order to free his last captured troop.

"JOY!"

"We who are not worthy of the mighty Bowser's personal rescue must honor him…"

"We, the Magikoopa corps, have attempted to find a suitable way to express our deep gratitude…"

"And so we hereby present an invigorating and inspiring dance of utter joy and happiness…"

"No, wait. We talked this over, Jerry, remember? We were gonna sing a song of Bowser praise?"

"Forget it, minions! Let's get a move on!" Bowser demanded. But even turning back, the Magikoopas were still discussing:

"Just a sec. I thought we'd build a monument to his strength!"

"No, we were going to make his favorite food, right?"

"Not me—I voted for polishing his horns with velvet shammies…"

"We DECIDED this, remember? It was foot massage all the way!"

"I still think that taking lutes and singing praises is sweet…"

"Is flossing his teeth still on the table? Because they are NASTY."

"No kidding. In fact, we should do a full orthodontic overhaul."

"OK, we'll have the Author hit the cavities, then deploy two-…"

"QUIET! MOVE IT!" Bowser yelled in impatience. "And WATCH that fourth-wall breaking!"

"KOO-RAH!" the Magikoopas saluted.

With that, the Magikoopas joined Bowser's army, allowing him to use a move in battle called Magikoopa Mob. Bowser proceeds further into the castle.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Now all of the seven Star Children are revealed! Please review.**


	22. The Dark Star awakens

**Another long chapter! But only two more chapters left for this story to be complete!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 22: The Dark Star awakens**

Bowser went further into the second floor of Melissa's Castle and managed to reach the third floor by flying out of a spring with his Spike Ball move, and was blasting off upwards between two long vines at the starry sky.

Unfortunately, two huge Piranha Plants that were at the end of the vines spat a fireball at Bowser, who roared in pain before falling all the way down back to the castle's roof.

"YOWWWWCH! HOT! WHOA, HOT!" he yelled while still in Spike Ball form, covered in flames.

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" Fawful's laugh came. A Fawfulcopter came next to Bowser and spoke: "Are you liking them? The giant Piranha Plants Viverna has raised? They are enjoying the barbecue of whatever goes near their mouths! Do they give you the angry face? Then just fly up and hit them with spikiness! Oh, but I have sadness! Tears of laughing for poor Bowser, who does not fly! I HAVE CHORTLES!" the Fawfulcopter leaves.

"HRRRRGH!" Bowser roared in frustration.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Looks like a new area is having a reaction now!" Starlow told. "Let's go!"

The heroes rushed to this new area: the Chest Station, which is apparently located near Bowser's heart. We can see what might be the cardiac muscle for the ground, and the purple background could be the inside of a vein or an artery, since it shows the smooth muscle. The group saw a cannon up ahead in the middle. Mario and Luigi went inside of the cannon, and it shot them upwards in Bros Ball formation.

The brothers were sent to some sort of membrane, where every time they recoil and spring up, Bowser would fly up according to the brothers' momentum. So they helped Bowser fly all the way up to where the giant Piranha Plants were while avoiding other Piranha Plants and Chain Chomps and made him knock both of them out.

Bowser landed back on the roof and uncurled himself.

"GAHAHAHA!" he laughed in glory. "Looks like red-hot Bowser is still alive and well!"

With that taken care of, Bowser manages to reach some rooms that were blocked by vines.

* * *

 _ **Some hours later…**_

Bowser finally found the room where Fawful, Midbus and Viverna were breaking the remains of the seal on the Dark Star using Melissa's power. She was locked into a round large capsule, hovering unconscious with both hands on her chest.

"I HAVE CHORTLES!" Fawful laughed. "AND I HAVE EXCITEMENT! At last, the Dark Star awakes like a naughty napping baby!"

"Yes, it's nearly there…" Viverna snickered.

However, Midbus turned around and saw Bowser entering the room.

"Lord Fawful! Lady Viverna!" he called out for them.

"…You?!" Viverna turned around and spoke with bitterness in her voice.

"Fawful hates your timing! A nuisance barge barging in at the critical time for us!" Fawful growled.

"Nuisance barge? GWAHAHA! Buddy, you're like a nuisance SUPERTANKER! Tell you what! As a Star Child, I can do almost anything!"

"Hmph. Lord Fawful. Leave him to me and Viverna." Midbus said.

"This should be interesting since the first time we fought…" Viverna smirked.

"Aw, man, AGAIN?! You don't give up!" Bowser hissed. "Well, have it your way! You'll be a nice tune-up for my stomping Fawful!"

"I have uneasiness… Bowser keeps appearing like an ugly rabbit from the hat of a magician who stinks! So Fawful will fight to help Midbus and Viverna have victory!" Fawful exclaimed. "But Midbus and Viverna have pride… So Fawful leaves him to you! MIDBUS! POWER UP!"

Fawful fires an ice laser gun at Midbus, transforming him into Blizzard Midbus.

"Now you face hot wrath. The hot wrath of my freezing blizzard attack!" Blizzard Midbus smirked.

"And the wrath of my venomous poison says goodbye to your hot flames of passion!" Viverna added.

"Here your long journey ends!" both Blizzard Midbus and Viverna announced in unison before launching their attack at Bowser.

"Bring it on!" Bowser stood in his fighting stance.

Blizzard Midbus begins by throwing snowballs at Bowser, but he destroyed them with his punch. Bowser immediately breathes fire at both Blizzard Midbus and Viverna. The fire hit only Blizzard Midbus, while Viverna flew out of the way.

"You're a persistent guy. Time to taste my venom!" Viverna said as she creates a cloud of green poison and sends it at Bowser, but he does his Spike Ball move to dodge the poison and also ram into Viverna. "Ugh!" she groaned from the impact.

Blizzard Midbus attempts to do a Sliding Punch at Bowser, but he jumps in the air and also managed to slam at Blizzard Midbus with his Body Slam.

"Alright…" Blizzard Midbus muttered. "Can you match THIS?!"

Blizzard Midbus summons a giant rolling snowball with a Bob-omb carved in it and rolls the ball towards Bowser. Bowser punches the snowball until the Bob-omb was alighted with Blizzard Midbus, causing it to explode in his face and destroying the snowball.

Viverna summons enemies made out of various poisonous plants and commands them to fire poison berries at Bowser, but he counters them by punching, sending the berries back at the plant enemies, destroying them.

Blizzard Midbus then summons four Snawfuls to give him strength and commands them to fire ice particles at Bowser. Bowser dodges the ice particles and inhales the four Snawfuls at once inside him. The heroes in Bowser's body battled and defeated the Snawfuls, causing Bowser to release an icy mist that froze into an ice chunk and landed on top of Blizzard Midbus' head, preventing him from summoning more Snawfuls.

"This is getting us nowhere. Let's work together on this next attack!" Viverna told Blizzard Midbus.

She creates a large vine while Blizzard Midbus creates a snowball and places it on the vine. The duo worked together to push the snowball into the vine and sent it out like a slingshot at Bowser, but he simply moved out of the way.

"No way!" Viverna growled in frustration.

"Too slow! My turn!" Bowser smirked. "Go! Koopa Corps!"

Bowser tosses a large ball of Koopa Troopas before retreating into his shell. A Koopa Troopa came and aimed at Blizzard Midbus as it retreats into its shell. Bowser rebounds the same Koopa, sending it towards Viverna this time. As the rebounding goes on, more Koopa Troopas show up to damage the evil duo. This continued until both Blizzard Midbus and Viverna collapsed on the ground. However, no one noticed that something came out of Viverna's mouth after the impact of the shells.

"Muh muh muh… Muh muh… Muh…" Blizzard Midbus gagged.

"Urgh…" Viverna groaned.

"Though we fall here… None beat Lord Fawful… Now he will FINISH YOU!"

Then, Blizzard Midbus' body became incased in a block of ice, while Viverna suddenly morphed into a very familiar fairy that only we could recognize. Her appearance shifted from bitter and sour to sweet and pure in the blink of an eye.

"GWAHAHA!" Bowser laughed in glory. "You figure out who's tougher and swifter yet, Mr. Ice Cube and Ms. Poison Ivy?"

Bowser didn't notice that Fawful walked towards a strange small green object placed next to the unconscious fairy and picked it up. That object looked like a rather dark-toned herb of some sorts.

"I have unpleasantness…" Fawful muttered. "That fairy of time did look quite worthless like an upside-down turtle who cannot get back up. But Fawful might give her credit for tracking down Princess Melissa and aiding Midbus. She had eyes of an eagle. Too bad that the effect of the Poison Herb is gone for good."

Suddenly, the capsule that Melissa was in shattered, resulting her in collapsing on the platform; the seal on the Dark Star has been broken. Then, what used to be a simple motionless violet sphere with a black star displayed on the front has now increased a bit in size with large black spikes that rotate around it, giving it a sun-like appearance and red eyes grew in the center of the black star emblem. At last, the Dark Star has awakened. Fawful rushes to it and speaks with excitement:

"It it it it it it it… IT WAKES! It has awakeness at last! Fawful has waited so long!"

He pulls out some sort of headgear on top of his head and begins sucking in the Dark Star's power.

"I HAVE SUCTION!" Fawful laughed. "With this, I am taking the Dark Star's power!"

Just then, the headgear releases sparks of energy and purple lightings strikes all around the room.

"I…have… DARKNESS! So very darkness! The dark power builds like a skyscraper of evil! With the dark power and later the Star Children's power in me, the world… The world… IS FOR FAWFUL!"

As more and more dark power was sucked into Fawful, his body became surrounded in a black aura with glowing red eyes.

"The world?! Good one, crazy guy! This will never happen! I'm the real bad guy here!" Bowser stormed before punching Fawful away, preventing him from absorbing ALL of the Dark Star's power. "GAHAHAHA! Feels good, finally punching out that weirdo. And now, I'll just take down that Dark Star myself!"

Then, the Dark Star started to fly around Bowser without him noticing…and it flew into his open mouth.

"GURK! GWAAK!" Bowser gagged. "Hnnnnk…"

" _What happened?"_ Starlow asked upon hearing Bowser's gagging noises. _"It looked like you just swallowed something…"_

"Duh… Dark Star… Ate the Dark Star… Tasted real funky…"

" _REALLY?!"_

" _So the Dark Star woke up… That's not good."_ Peach lamented. _"Now it's probably going after us, the Star Children…"_

"YOWWW! Chest…burning!"

Bowser blindly walks towards the frozen corpse of Midbus and inhaled the cold air coming out of his muzzle. "Haaaaah… That was gross, but my chest feels better…" Bowser sighed. "What was that…heartburn? I mean, with the Dark Star in there somewhere…" but… "Bah! My chest is getting hot again!" he inhales more cold air.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Looks like it's up to us to catch that Dark Star." Mario stated. "I mean, if it stays inside Bowser's body… I can't imagine what sort of horrible thing might happen! C'mon! Let's hurry!"

The group rushed to the new and final area of Bowser's body: the Airway.

This place is located in Bowser's lungs and trachea, since we can see the lungs' tissue in the background and the ground could be part of the pulmonary alveolus. As soon as the heroes entered this area, everything became cold.

"Brrr… It's so c-c-cold in here!" Luigi shivered.

"Got cold, huh… That icy breath Bowser inhaled really dropped the temperature in this area…"

"Hm? Looks at this!" Mario noticed that a water geyser up ahead has been frozen by the cold air. "The water just froze!"

"Interesting… That means we can jump on that platform without it sinking. Using that icy breath to freeze and melt things will help out, so keep that in mind."

Then, Luigi finally realized that he was the only one shivering; the rest of the group wasn't even chatting their teeth!

"Wait! How come you guys aren't cold?!" he asked surprised.

"I'm used to the cold. I've been to many frozen places just to save Peach from Bowser." Mario answered.

"I got used to the cold ever since my island nearly became a frozen islet." Donkey Kong said.

"There are many frozen places in my island." Yoshi said.

"I've been the champion on many frozen places in our Mario Kart Tournaments." Wario said.

"And I've been venturing the cold places in the Sprixie Kingdom for so long that I also ended up getting used to the cold." Peach finished.

"Luigi… I think you're shivering a bit much, don't you think? It's not THAT cold, come on. You can handle it like everyone else, seriously. You just THINK you're cold!" Starlow spoke.

"Really?" Luigi replied.

"Yeah! It's all in your head! Think 'I'm not cold,' and you won't be cold."

"Alright."

Starlow flies towards the rest of the group…until she hears Luigi's shivering noises again.

"I'm not cold." She told him. She flies away…but more shivering. "Not cold!" the same thing happens again… "Not!" and again, but this time, she only glares at Luigi.

"Come on, Luigi! You can handle this cold! After all, this feels a bit less worse than all of the cold areas we all mentioned." Mario encouraged as they all started to walk.

" _I'm not cold, I'm not cold, I'm not cold…_ " Luigi kept repeating the same thing in his thoughts while walking.

* * *

 _ **One cold walk (maybe) later…**_

After coming out of a green pipe, the group saw something at the distance.

"There it is!" Starlow pointed.

They saw the Dark Star flying next to a set of DNA, and watched it eating a piece of it.

"Hmm… Looks like it tried to absorb Bowser's genetic information…but didn't get it all." Starlow pondered. "Only Bowser's body could give even the Dark Star indigestion!"

"This could be our opportunity to destroy it!" Donkey Kong exclaimed.

"Yeah! Let's figure out some way to KO that Dark Star! And I think I know how…" Mario eyed at a bone basin above their heads.

With the help of Bowser, the heroes create a block of ice and pushes it towards the Dark Star…only for it to break it once it suddenly gained Bowser's arms.

"What the-?!" Mario flinched.

"It just gained Bowser's arms and strength!" Luigi piped up.

The Dark Star flew up and punched through some walls before proceeding deeper into the Airway.

"After it! We can't let it escape!" Starlow demanded.

After more walking later, they caught up with the Dark Star again.

"There it is again!" Mario pointed up.

The Dark Star was standing next to another set of DNA, eating another bit of it.

"It just absorbed more of Bowser's genetic code…" Starlow said. "Now's our chance! After it!"

Mario hammered a Nubbin up ahead, causing a small bone attached to the wall pop out, flinging the Dark Star into an orange blob block. However, the Dark Star managed to escape again by releasing flames from its mouth to burn the blob and a white wall on the left before fleeing.

"Not again!" Wario cursed.

"It just copied Bowser's fire now, didn't it…" Yoshi remarked.

"And before, it punched through a wall by copying Bowser's strength…" Luigi threw in.

"We have to stop it from getting any more of Bowser's genetic code or we're in BIG trouble." Starlow warned. "Chase it down!"

More walking later, they caught up with the Dark Star once again, but suddenly, it released some sort of dark cloud around them, causing them to choke, giving a chance for it to eat more of Bowser's DNA bit of another set. This gave the Dark Star the Body Slam ability, allowing it to break through some walls on the floor.

"Another near miss… We almost had it that time too…" Starlow muttered.

"Yeah…until it choked us." Mario groaned.

"That Dark Star… It's definitely absorbing Bowser's traits one by one…which isn't good." Peach whimpered.

"Next time, we HAVE to get it!" Starlow stated.

* * *

 _ **Even MORE walking later…**_

Upon emerging out of another room, it suddenly started to flash in negative colors.

"What is that?" Luigi wondered.

"Ah… Everyone! The Dark Star… It's just ahead!" Starlow told.

"Really?!" the group's eyes widened.

"At last, we've cornered this evil thing… If we can't defeat it here and end this… All that we care about will be in jeopardy… Are you truly ready? You must not lose! All depends on this! Be strong, Star Children!"

"You can count on us, Starlow!" Mario nodded.

"Yeah!" the rest of the heroes exclaimed.

Once they finally found the Dark Star, who was releasing sparks of energy, they glared at it while standing in their fighting stances. The Dark Star released so many electricity that it was split into four and each part fled into the tiny and narrow gaps in the ceiling and floor. The heroes were about to head into this other part until Starlow stopped them:

"Wait! The footing here is too dangerous!"

Then, the two parts that came out of the gaps in the floor came back up again, and one of them was showing Bowser's belly, while the other was showing Bowser's arms before joining in together. Next, the other two parts came down from the ceiling, one showing Bowser's head, with the other showing Bowser's shell before joining in together with the arms and belly, creating a full Bowser body, with only its legs and tail missing.

Just then, the Dark Star began to inhale the heroes to try to send them into its mouth!

"WAAAAH! NOT AGAIN!" Luigi yelled before all of the heroes held on to the ground to avoid being sucked in.

Unfortunately, Luigi's hands slipped off, but he managed to grab Mario's legs. But it wouldn't last long: Luigi's grip became tired, and he was sucked into the Dark Star's mouth. Luckily, the Dark Star spits Luigi out, with Mario catching him, causing the brothers to slide a few feet away.

The Dark Star splits up again and merges back into its regular shape. It did a few screeches before charging after the heroes.

"NOW we're actually fighting it!" Wario grinned as he throws a Bob-omb at the Dark Star…but it took no damage. "WHAT?!"

Yoshi threw an egg at the Dark Star, but once again, nothing. "Why can't we damage it?!" he questioned.

"Maybe we could if our Star Children powers are activated?" Donkey Kong guessed.

"Wait… Look!" Mario noticed something. He saw the Dark Star sending out six Dark Satellmites. "I think we'll have to destroy those small things first before damaging the Dark Star."

"Uh, big bro…" Luigi spoke frightened when he saw the Dark Star splitting itself into five clones.

The clones were rolling slowly towards the heroes and turning invisible when they were nearly close to them. Luckily, the Mario Bros timed up their hammer swings to counter the copies and even managed to knock one of them into another.

The Dark Satellmites aimed at each hero and fired their laser eyes at them, but they dodged them and proceeded to attack them: Mario and Luigi stomped theirs, Yoshi kicked his, Wario shoulder tackles his, Donkey Kong slams his hands on his and Peach hit hers with her frying pan.

Suddenly, the Dark Star shines its light at the heroes, causing their shadows to come to life and they begin to circle around it. The shadows of each hero followed their respective bodies' actions, so when the Dark Star shot a sparking laser at them, the heroes had to time their jumps to avoid having their shadows getting hit or they'll receive damage.

After this event, the heroes used their stronger attacks to defeat the Dark Satellmites much quicker, and once they were defeated, the Dark Star materializes a bomb and tosses it at the group, but Peach reflected it back with her tennis racquet, and to the heroes' amusement, the Dark Star took damage when the bomb blew on it.

"All right! Now we can damage the Dark Star!" Mario exclaimed. "Come on, guys! Let's use our strongest attacks to defeat it!"

The Dark Star quickly reacts and summons a red, green, lime-green, yellow, brown and pink orbs rotating around it. It sends the orbs towards each hero with their respective colors, but they of course dodged them.

Yoshi starts by throwing an Egg Bomb at the Dark Star, blinding it, giving a chance for Wario to Butt Smash it, followed by Donkey Kong's Giant Punch and Peach's Psych Bomb (an attack from _Super Mario RPG_ ).

Before Mario and Luigi could use an attack to end this, the Dark Star started to charge some sort of purple energy. The heroes grabbed on to Starlow to avoid being hit by the huge laser sent out by the Dark Star. Once they were back on the ground, it was now the time to finish this fight:

"Let's end this with the item Melissa gave it to us!" Mario told Luigi as he pulls out the Magic Window. "Magic Window!"

Mario tosses the window and it opens by itself before both brothers jump in. The window magically teleports and shows up in front of the Dark Star, with Mario coming out and stomping it. The window reappears this time behind the Dark Star, and Luigi was the one to come out and stomp it. This attack continued until the Dark Star became lifeless, lying on the ground.

But all of a sudden, the lifeless Dark Star flies into the air and sends out a vacuum attack on the heroes. They quickly flee the scene by running away as fast as they could until the Dark Star explodes.

The explosion made it split into four again, and they all fled out of Bowser's body.

* * *

 _ **Back outside…**_

"Hm?" Bowser felt something in his mouth. "Got some nasty taste going on in my mouth…"

As he less expected, the small bits of the Dark Star escaped from his mouth before coalescing into the incomplete Bowser form, causing Bowser's eyes to widen in shock.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" he flinched.

"Your body, I have copied… Your power, I have copied…" the Dark Star spoke in Bowser's voice, but in a deeper pitch, now a lot like Dry Bowser's voice. "But your Star Child power… Not yet…"

"Now who's THIS jerk?! You're biting my style?! Not on MY watch, buddy!"

"Not enough… Not enough…power…"

"What? Not enough?"

"Not enough dark power… Power has been drained… I am not complete…"

"Drained?"

"Who… Who will give…the dark power…" the Dark Star then looks at Melissa, still unconscious. "Her…star power…" to Bowser's surprise, the Dark Star sucks up Melissa! "Not…enough…"

"Knock it off, pal!"

"Star Child… Soon… I'll get your power…along with the other six…"

"My power? Ha! That's when we'll see!"

"I HAVE POWER!" Fawful's voice came in. "Where is the Dark Star?! Fawful has more suction for the rest of the dark power!"

"That voice… Yes… I know that voice… That is the being who drained me of my power…" the Dark Star said before leaving the room.

"HOLD UP!" Bowser called out. "There could be only ONE Bowser! One Bowser is plenty, baby! That guy's gotta GO!"

Bowser then chases after his incomplete dark clone.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **The next chapter will show the last giant battle and Bowser taking on Dark Fawful! Please review.  
**


	23. The giant's finale and Dark Bowser

**Just one more chapter left!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 23: The giant's finale and Dark Bowser**

Bowser followed the Dark Star all the way to the outside of Melissa's Castle, and even descended the Star Road, taking him to Star Hill. There, he heard Fawful's voice:

"Dark Star! Dark Star! Fawful is wanting you!"

Bowser looked up ahead and saw Fawful looking quite…different than he was before: he was wearing dark clothes sharing the colors of the Dark Star and his spiral glasses were red just like the Dark Star's eyes. Because of that, he was now known as Dark Fawful. He was hovering in the air with his headgear.

"Seriously?! You again?!" Bowser said annoyed, causing Dark Fawful to turn around. "You're such a huge pain!"

"It is you who are the pain to me! I am needing more power!" Dark Fawful replied.

"Like that's my problem! I'm done with you, pal! Where's that fake me?!"

"Your meddling has made Fawful have a fury large as the world! Bowser! It is time for meeting and greeting with your doom! For now it is the end of the final act of the finale's closing last encore! I am having the castle of Melissa! And now I am thinking… Since the castle of Peach is the only one intact, I shall Fawfulize it! Time for the remodeling!" he takes out a remote control. "SUPER PEACH'S CASTLE OF FURY!" he presses a button.

Back at Peach's Castle Garden, the whole place began to shake as soon as Dark Fawful pressed the button. Eventually, the main tower retracts, followed by the third floor's roof. Some strange pink pipe-things rose from the other towers as their roofs retracts as well. The walls on the side crack out, creating arms with sharp spikes for the 'hands'. Finally, the castle's walls turn dark purple as the front wall turns into a 'mouth' and glowing red spiral eyes showed up at the hole on the second floor right under the stained glass depicting Peach.

In an instant, Peach's Castle turned into a large robot controlled by Dark Fawful, being known as Super Peach's Castle. Super Peach's Castle flies all the way up to Star Hill and hovers RIGHT above Bowser, who was panicking from what he's witnessing, and the Castle instantly crushes him.

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Did Bowser get crushed again?" Luigi guessed.

"Seems like it." Mario nodded. "Well, we know what to do."

They all went to the Rump Command and revived Bowser once again with adrenaline, allowing him to grow giant again. With that, Giant Bowser lifts the Castle and tosses it at the lower part of the Hill, with Giant Bowser standing on the higher part, ready to take down Super Peach's Castle.

Super Peach's Castle made a cannon pop out of its main tower, charging up some sort of dark energy.

"What's your deal?" Giant Bowser questioned.

The cannon shoots a dark orb that took off into the starry sky.

"Huh? Fireworks? Real festive…" Giant Bowser looked up. "Huh? Nothing! Worst fireworks ever!"

However, the dark orb came back down right behind Giant Bowser, creating a black hole.

"Weird fireworks, pal… Real weird. Well… Moving on…" Giant Bowser spoke, not caring about the black hole before turning around. "Time to deal with your ugly mug!"

In order to escape from the black hole, Giant Bowser proceeds to punch Super Peach's Castle, sending it sliding down the hill a bit. Unfortunately, even walking away from the black hole, it started to suck up Giant Bowser.

"NOOO! That thing's sucking me in!" Giant Bowser panicked before trying to beat the black hole's vacuuming force: "Don't even try it!"

After beating the vacuuming of the black hole, Giant Bowser saw Super Peach's Castle charging for him, but he countered with his punch before punching it again, sending it sliding down the hill a bit more. Super Peach's Castle next summons a bunch of Mechawful Bodies to protect itself from the punches. Giant Bowser had to take care of the Mechawful Bodies by breathing fire at them and also damaged Super Peach's Castle in the process.

"HEAT! HEAT! FIRE! FIRE!" Super Peach's Castle went haywire. "FLAMMABLE BALLAST EJECT! EJECT ALL HEATED CARGO!" it then sends out a mushroom and Giant Bowser picks it up. "ENEMY STILL ACTIVE. LAUNCH UNAVOIDABLE ATTACK AT ONCE! RESISTANCE USELESS! CONSUME THIS!"

Super Peach's Castle fires a laser at Giant Bowser, sending him all the way into the black hole. Luckily, Giant Bowser manages to pull himself out of the black hole and ram into Super Peach's Castle by rolling into it.

"LAST ATTACK SUCCESSFUL! BLACK HOLE PLUS BODY BLOW COMBO…" Super Peach's Castle said before sending out the same cannon again.

"Aw, that again?! Come ON!" Giant Bowser complained. The cannon shoots another dark orb upwards. "Please! I'll blast that thing down with a fireball!" Giant Bowser scoffed before shooting a fireball from his mouth, causing the dark orb to fall behind Super Peach's Castle this time and create another black hole. "GAHAHA! See that? All Bowser, baby!"

"SAFETY PROTOCOL SYSTEM ONLINE!" Super Peach's Castle announced and a shield appeared around it. "FRONTAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS FULLY OPERATIONAL!"

Giant Bowser thought about sending Super Peach's Castle into the black hole, so he did another punch at it, but of course, with the protective shield, the castle took no damage. Despite that, it still slid down the hill more.

Just then, the black hole behind Super Peach's Castle begins its sucking ability. Now Super Peach's Castle was even more close to the black hole. Because of that, it begins to charge after Giant Bowser with its spikes on its hands. Giant Bowser immediately curls into a spike ball and pushes Super Peach's Castle back down, and he was finally able to send it into the black hole.

"SAFETY PROTOCOL ERROR! FULL DEFENSE SHUTDOWN!" Super Peach's Castle started to malfunction. It then pulls itself out and flies after Giant Bowser, but he counters with his punch, damaging the castle a bit.

Super Peach's Castle sends out three more Mechawful Bodies, with Giant Bowser taking them down by breathing fireballs at them. Then, the towers of the castle shoots two huge missiles, but Giant Bowser sent them right back at the castle and he punches it again, and the black hole did the rest to get the castle into it again. Super Peach's Castle once again pulls itself out and Giant Bowser punches it when it tried to ram into him. Right now, the castle is badly damaged.

"ENEMY STILL ACTIVE. QUERY: CAN IT SURVIVE THIS?" Super Peach's Castle spoke. Then, one of its eyes sparkled, and suddenly, both black holes moved closer to its victims a bit. "ANY DAMAGE WILL END THIS… ACTIVATE BLACK HOLE ENDGAME!"

Super Peach's Castle charges for Giant Bowser and begins to push him backwards, but he also was pushing it back. The two struggled for a bit until Giant Bowser won this pushing competition and pushes Super Peach's Castle right into the black hole.

"BOO SYSTEM ONLINE! INVISIBILITY FIELD NOW OPERATIONAL! ENEMY EVASIVE MANEUVERS NULL!" Super Peach's Castle announced.

Once it pulled itself out of the black hole, Super Peach's Castle flies after Giant Bowser again, but it turned invisible as it was approaching him, so he had to time his punch in order to hit it. Thankfully, he was successful and damaged the castle even more.

"ENEMY STRENGTH IS ADMIRABLE! BUT YOU ARE FINISHED!" Super Peach's Castle spoke.

Then, the two black holes sucked up both Giant Bowser and Super Peach's Castle. The black holes flew into the sky face to face with each other. It was now time to decide which black hole will triumph over the other.

Super Peach's Castle made large spikes come out from both hands, but before it could do anything, Giant Bowser hit it by rolling into it. The giant Koopa King continued this phase until Super Peach's Castle fell all the way back into where it used to be. It also returns back into the original Peach's Castle, however, due to this whole fight, it was now badly damaged, with the walls and towers looked like that they were blown up, with smoke coming out.

Soon, Bowser returned to normal size, landing on his feet this time right next to the Star Road.

"OK, so that was NOT a fight I ever expected…" Bowser remarked.

"Where… Dark power… Being who drains… Where… Where…" he then heard the Dark Star's voice coming from behind him.

"You!" Bowser glared at the Dark Star, but it flies away atop the Star Road, heading back into Melissa's Castle. "Wait! I mean it! Get back here at this instant! You'll pay for you've done to Melissa!"

" _Hey! What's going on up there, huh?!"_ Wario questioned.

" _Is Melissa in trouble?!"_ Yoshi wanted to know.

"Guys! Listen! This crazy dark smoke dude that looks just like me came out of my mouth!"

" _Wait! What?!"_ Luigi flinched.

"Yeah, and this fake me kidnapped Melissa by sucking her up!"

" _So your power and that of the Dark Star have combined…"_ Starlow pondered. _"Dark Bowser… That's almost too terrifying to bear… Talk about a strong enemy…"_

" _It's unfortunate, but there's only one thing we can do about it."_ Mario said. _"We all must team up together for an epic battle with Dark Bowser!"_

"You're right, Mario. After all, we're the Star Children!" Bowser exclaimed. "OK, it's time to teach that fake me a painful lesson! It's time he learned what REAL power is!"

With that, Bowser walks up the Star Road and reenters Melissa's Castle.

* * *

Inside, he didn't find Dark Bowser; instead, he found Dark Fawful instead, who was still tracking down the Dark Star. Bowser decides to follow him. He found Dark Fawful standing in what used to be Melissa's Room.

"Fawfully-doo! Where are you?! Dark Star, needing you! Dark power, yoo-hoo! WHERE TO FIND YOU…" Dark Fawful sung.

"HEY!" Bowser yelled, catching Dark Fawful's attention.

"I have shock at you! You are surviving? Fawful hates you!"

"Pfft! What, you thought your little castle-bot would crush me? Who do you think I am, buddy? I'm Bowser, the Koopa king!"

"But I am Lord Fawful! I am ruling the world!"

"Please! Try again in about a hundred years, you weird little babbling nerd!"

"I have chortles… You are underestimating Fawful, who has the suction machine for draining the dark power! Fawful only got half the power, but I am thinking it is enough to KO you, the king of stupid! You have gotten in Fawful's way at each of the turns… Just like the red and green mustaches who I hate… Fawful hates your faces…"

"Don't lump me with Mario and Green 'Stache!"

"But… Now… Fawful says farewell to all your fink-rat faces forever! Bowser! Meet… FURY OF FAWFUL!"

Dark Fawful makes his headgear hang to a lamp and he swings from it towards Bowser, but he kept countering with his punch and ducked when Dark Fawful began to spin in 360 degrees. Once Dark Fawful gets back on the floor, Bowser proceeds to punch him, but his headgear moved him out of the punch's way.

"WHAT?!" Bowser didn't believe that.

"I laugh at your stupidity!" Dark Fawful teased.

He next pulls out a laser gun and fires two circling star trails, sending them at Bowser, but he ducked and punched the star that was glowing pink to make all of the others explode. Dark Fawful then flies to the air while creating four holes: two at his side, and two on either in front or above Bowser. Dark Fawful tosses an energy orb at the right hole, teleporting it to the hole in front of Bowser. Bowser quickly reacts by punching the orb. Dark Fawful tosses another one at the left hole, and Bowser ducks to destroy the orb with his spikes.

Finally, the headgear flies out of Dark Fawful's head, giving Bowser the chance to inhale the headgear inside him. While the heroes inside him fight against the headgear, Bowser breathes fire at Dark Fawful, and since he didn't have his headgear, the fire hit him this time.

Dark Fawful summons four orbs surrounding him. Then, a Goomba came out and reported to Bowser:

"Your Rashness! This battle is fraught with danger, sir! Allow us to protect you, sir! The Goomba corps has trained for situations like this! Turn us loose and this mangy dog will feel like a savage bonking unlike anything he's dreamt! This cur doesn't merit your attention, sir! Unleash us and we'll take care of everything!"

Bowser then punches the Goomba at Dark Fawful, timing it just right to hit him. He did the same thing with more Goombas until Dark Fawful stops. At the same time, the heroes inside Bowser's body managed to destroy the headgear.

"You're going down right now." Bowser smirked as he pulls out his army of Bob-ombs. "Bob-omb Blitz!"

Bowser tosses the Bob-ombs and commands them to alight themselves with Dark Fawful. Once all of them were alighted, the Bob-ombs' fuse began to shrink as they charged for Dark Fawful, and eventually, they all blew up on his face. Dark Fawful then kneels on the floor in exhaustion.

"NOOAAAARGH!" Dark Fawful yelled in defeat as he was morphing into something. Suddenly, Dark Fawful was now a small black orb thing with small legs, arms, and his characteristic face and grim were still there. "I have fury?" he spoke in a somewhat high-pitched voice as he begins to leave Melissa's Room. "Fury?" he flees.

"Pitiful…" Bowser said.

" _So, you defeated Fawful, huh?"_ Starlow guessed.

"What a joke! That guy was too weak to even call an enemy!"

" _I wonder if Fawful will behave himself now…"_ Yoshi wondered.

" _Wait… Speaking of… Fawful sucked up some of the dark power, right?"_ Peach asked.

"Yeah, looked like it. Why? What of it?"

" _Ooh… I've got a bad feeling about this…"_

"Bad why?"

" _Hmm… I think I'm puzzling the pieces together…"_ Mario pondered. _"So both Fawful and Dark Bowser have some dark power within them… So… If… If… If Dark Bowser inhales what remains of Fawful… The dark power will finally be whole!"_

" _Oh, that's right! And if it adds that dark power to the abilities it copied from you…"_ Luigi added.

"Oh. Yeah. That'd be bad." Bowser finished. "He's still too weak to be called my enemy, though! BWAHAHA!"

" _If only that were true…"_ Mario rolled his eyes.

Bowser leaves the room. Outside, he saw Dark Fawful stopping on his tracks when the Dark Star's voice came:

"There…"

The Dark Star uses its suction ability to suck up Dark Fawful, and it let out a loud roar as his Bowser transformation completes. His skin and shell were colored dark blue, his snout, stomach, horns and spikes were in a paler peach color, the rings around his spikes and horns were black, he still kept his red eyes and he has a black mohawk hair style-like. With that, the Dark Star was now known as: Dark Bowser.

"FWAHAHAHA! Awake at last!" Dark Bowser laughed in glory. "The dark power is complete! Now all I need are the Magical Stars!" he punches through the door leading to the main tower of the castle before going in.

"WAIT!" Bowser called out. "CRUD!"

" _What's wrong?"_ Mario asked. _"Wait… You're kidding me! Dark Bowser got Fawful?!"_

"Yup. Sure did. Fake me ate Fawful. That whole bad feeling of Peach came true."

" _That means…that the dark power is now complete!"_ Peach cried in horror. _"All of your abilities, along with the fully awakened dark power… Dark Bowser… And now only the power of the Star Children remains…"_

"… _This is the absolute worst-case scenario! And we have no choice but to fight! Fight Dark Bowser!"_ Starlow finished.

"Hmph. What do I care about some stupid wannabe me? I'm the main villain of this world! Whatever! I'll just chase after him!"

Bowser rushes into the interior of the main tower, where he found Dark Bowser standing in the middle.

"Hey! No more running! Let's just end this once and for all!" Bowser growled.

"I just need the extraordinary amount of power you and the ones inside of you possess." Dark Bowser said. "If you want to take me on so badly, then try to catch me!"

Bowser then begins to chase after Dark Bowser all the way to the top of the tower.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **The final battle that will decide the fate of the Mushroom World is near... I will hopefully post the final chapter by tomorrow at afternoon. Until then! Please review.  
**


	24. The Grand Finale

**I was too busy yesterday, so here's the final chapter!**

 **Enjoy! ;)**

* * *

 **Final Chapter: The Grand Finale**

"You can't escape, Mr. Runs-a-lot!" Bowser taunted. He was at the very top of the Star Shrine's main tower. "The long chase ends here and now!"

As Bowser walks on the road ahead, dark flames lit the candles on the sides. Finally, he reaches Dark Bowser's altar, and the sky filled with stars seems much closer above our heads. Too bad that we can't stop and appreciate the sparkling stars in the sky.

"Are you finally ready to stop running and fight?" Bowser said impatiently.

Up ahead, Dark Bowser has just set the unconscious Princess Melissa on the floor at his right side.

"The Magical Stars' power slept so long into the hearts of the Star Children, and now they'll awake… They must be mine… BEHOLD!" Dark Bowser announced before raising his right claw into the air. "Magical Stars! Come to me! LEND ME YOUR POWER!"

Just then, a faint golden glow showed up in Bowser's chest before a shiny and sparkling golden star popped out of it in front of Bowser's eyes.

"What in the…" Bowser murmured.

Inside Bowser's body, at the same time when Bowser's Magical Star came out of him, the same thing happened to the six Star Children: the same golden star popped out from Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Peach's chests.

"Huh?!" Starlow flinched.

"They're… No! The Magical Stars!" Peach exclaimed horrified.

"Oh no…" Mario breathed.

In an instant, the six Magical Stars took off upwards, out of Bowser's body, causing Bowser to spit them all out.

With the seven Magical Stars from each Star Children released, they flew right into Dark Bowser's raised claw. Eventually, the stars glowed in a bright golden color that slowly turned dark purple before a swirl of dark clouds came out from them and flew high into the skies as Dark Bowser roars loudly, with his roar echoing all around the Star Realm.

Darkness began to spread all around the Star Realm before descending towards the Mushroom Kingdom to engulf everything in darkness as well. Worse, darkness began to spread around rapidly, covering also the other members of the party's homelands: Yoshi's Island, Diamond City and DK Island. Everyone in every landscape of the Mushroom World screamed in fear and despair as they started to get trapped inside bubbles, with the clouds of darkness taking over the clear skies.

"What's this wind? That's the result of your dark power with the Magical Stars? A windstorm?!" Bowser yelled as he was squinting his eyes while sliding backwards by the strong winds of darkness. "Talk about wimpy!" but he was soon going to regret for saying that, as the winds started to become stronger. "Hrrrgh…"

" _This is bad… Everything… Not just the Mushroom Kingdom, but the entire world is engulfed in darkness…"_ Peach whimpered.

" _Just as Melissa said…"_ Donkey Kong added.

" _Wait, then that means Diamond City is also being taken over by the darkness!"_ Wario's eyes widened.

" _It's not just your city, Wario… My island, DK's island, Delfino Island, Sarasaland, Beanbean Kingdom… Every place existent in the Mushroom World is covered in darkness."_ Yoshi corrected.

" _I can already imagine all of the people we know and love screaming in despair… Why am I suddenly thinking that?!"_ Luigi cried in despair as he holds his head and shakes it.

" _Everyone…"_ Mario spoke with determination in his voice. _"This must be the final battle! The darkness is emanating like crazy!"_

"Mario?! That you?! Everything's going nuts out here! I wish you and everyone else could see this scene!" Bowser shouted, barely able to listen to the group's voices inside his body because of the strong winds.

" _Listen, Bowser! I have a favor to ask!"_

"Not a good time, Mario!"

" _No, listen! When you face off in battle… Don't forget you can count on us!"_

"Wait, what?"

" _Yeah! We'll help you from in here! We'll all work together! Right, everyone?"_

" _YEAH!"_ the rest of the group fist pumped.

"All right…"

"Still here? Has the extraordinary world-domination power not crushed your puny hopes?" Dark Bowser smirked. "Soon this world will vanish along with all who dwell within. And you, too, Star Child, will sleep eternally in the darkness' embrace!"

"GWAHAHA!" Bowser laughed, making Dark Bowser raise an eyebrow. "Great dark hurricane! Seriously, perfect backdrop for an awesome final battle! You really sweat the details! Listen up! You're saying the world will vanish? NOT TODAY! As a Star Child myself... YOU'RE GOING DOWN! SO YOU VANISH!"

Both Bowsers begin to breathe fire at the same time, as they both hit each other making an explosion. Dark Bowser then took out a large meteorite and after tossing it into the air, he spat a fireball at it, shattering it and the pieces started to fall down at Bowser, but he ducked to destroy them. But suddenly, he was surprised by Dark Bowser's flame, taking his first damage.

" _Damn! That guy's smart! I better act fast!_ " Bowser thought.

Both Bowsers charged for each other while delivering a punch and both fists collided with each other, sending both of them backwards a few feet away from each other.

"Oof. Impressive…" Dark Bowser breathed as he snaps his fingers, trapping Bowser in a cage.

"Whoa! What?!" Bowser didn't expect that as the cage lifts up.

"…But not impressive enough!" Dark Bowser smirked as he prepares to charge an energy ball.

Bowser quickly does a series of punches in order to break free from his cage. Luckily, he managed to get out just as the energy blast was reaching for him. Dark Bowser then attempts to do a Body Slam at Bowser, but he ducked and Dark Bowser was hit by the spikes, so next he tries to ram into Bowser with the Spike Ball move, but Bowser grabbed hold of him and pushed him back.

Bowser decides to eat the mushroom he got during his fight with Super Peach's Castle to recover some energy and cure his bruises from the fire. Dark Bowser then did the meteorite attack again, but Bowser managed to destroy the pieces again and also punched one of them at Dark Bowser, causing it to fly into his mouth and the attack's energy recoils, inflicting damage on himself.

"Go! Magikoopa Mob!" Bowser took the chance to finish Dark Bowser with his last corps' attack.

Bowser threw the Magikoopas and they positioned in front of him as he charges up a fireball on his claw. Bowser sends the fireball to the Magikoopas' wands before they fired it at Dark Bowser. Bowser continued this attack until he ran out of Magikoopas, but it wasn't long enough for Dark Bowser to collapse on the floor.

However, Dark Fawful, who was still inside Dark Bowser, released his energy to make Dark Bowser stand up again! And to make things worse, Dark Bowser doubles in size!

"Well…crud." Bowser sweatdropped.

Dark Bowser released his own dark army consistent of Dark Goombas, Dark Koopa Shells, Dark Bob-ombs, Dark Bullet Bills and Dark Thwomps, and tosses them at Bowser, who grabs the large ball of Dark minions as he was pushed back and proceeds to beat every single one once they all detached from the ball.

" _Of course! That Fawful is still inside him! If I can get him out, I might weaken fake me!_ " Bowser thought once he got close to Dark Bowser.

Bowser then advances towards Dark Bowser and punches him on the gut really hard, making him cough out Dark Fawful, now known as the Dark Star Core. With that, Dark Bowser shrunk back to normal size. Bowser then sees the Dark Star Core trying to flee.

"Oh no, you don't!" Bowser exclaimed as he uses his vacuum ability.

But Dark Bowser tries to counterattack by also using his vacuum ability. A fight of vacuuming began as the Dark Star Core got trapped between each Bowser's inhaling. In a few seconds, Bowser won the fight and sucked up the Dark Star Core into his body.

* * *

Inside Bowser, it was now time for the six Star Children to finish off the Dark Star Core, who has transformed into a gigantic version of himself.

"Guess it's up for us to finish this! Let's do this!" Mario stood in his fighting stance, followed up by the rest of his gang, ready to fight the Dark Star Core.

"But where do we start? He has so many parts!" Luigi asked.

"How about his appendages?" Donkey Kong guessed.

" _No… First, his glasses…"_ Melissa's voice echoed from above.

"Melissa!" Peach beamed as the same pink hologram of Melissa descended next to the heroes.

" _I knew I was able to communicate with you again. Even if I can't assist you in the fight, I'll be glad to help you win this fight. I'll stay at your side no matter what, Star Children."_

"Great! So, attack his glasses first?" Yoshi remarked.

" _That's right. Oh, look out! He's about to attack you!"_

Melissa's hologram saw the Dark Star Core covering the whole area with purple smoke…before appearing RIGHT in front of the heroes out of nowhere, jumpscaring them before proceeding to chase after them.

As the heroes run away from the Dark Star Core, he sends out Dark Star-like comets at them, but they dodged them…when suddenly they fell into a bright white hole, taking them back at the beginning.

"That was such a teleportation…" Wario spoke a bit woozy.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry and attack his glasses before he does something else!" Mario demanded.

Yoshi and Wario nodded to each other before they threw an Egg Bomb and a Bob-omb respectively at each eye of the Dark Star Core, causing them to shatter, forcing the Dark Star Core to cover both eyes with his hands.

" _Now his legs are vulnerable! Aim for his legs next!"_ Melissa's hologram told.

"Got it!" Donkey Kong nodded while grinning as he gets into position to clap his hands to create a shockwave. But just as he was about to do that…

"DK! WATCH OUT!" Mario quickly rushed in front of Donkey Kong and hammered the Dark Star Core's hands as they were trying to reach for Donkey Kong.

"Whoa! Close one! Thanks, Mario, mate!" Donkey Kong thanked.

"No problem! Now do your thing!"

"Leave it to me!"

Donkey Kong then claps his hands strong enough to make a shockwave, damaging the Dark Star Core's legs, causing them to shatter, and he fell on the ground, shattering half of his head.

" _See that core on his antenna? If you destroy it, then you'll defeat him!"_ Melissa's hologram exclaimed.

"All right!" Mario grinned.

Of course, the Dark Star Core proceeds to attack the heroes first: he creates three dark arrows that begin to circle around the heroes. Peach, acting quickly, knocked one of the arrows at the core with her Peach Bomber, while the Mario Bros knocked the last two with their hammers. When the three arrows hit the Dark Star Core, he became dazed.

" _You know, there's something I forgot to tell about: the Dark Star can only be defeated with the power of the stars combined with the power of the Miracle Cure and the power of the Star Children."_ Melissa's hologram explained.

"But the Dark Star took our power!" Yoshi stated.

" _Not quite. There's still a grain of the Magical Stars' power resting inside of you all, including Bowser. So the Dark Star didn't steal all of your power, but even that, it's not enough for you to release it to do amazing things that you did when I gave my blessings to you for the first time. But with this small amount of star power you have in your hearts, I can still craft the ultimate weapon that will destroy that core."_

Melissa's hologram begins to concentrate, and a golden light appeared above her head. It grew larger and larger with each second. Once it reached its limit of expansion, the golden light fades, revealing a large golden star with black eyes and white outlines.

" _Here it is, the weapon that will destroy the Dark Star's Core with a single blow: the Falling Star!"_

"Wow! It's like a Power Star!" Mario beamed.

" _Indeed. But this star is very special: it is made entirely of star power. Because of that, only the Star Children are able to use it. Power Stars, on the other hand, are consistent of only 60% of star power, and that's why anyone is able to use them."_

"So that means the Falling Star is consistent of 100% of star power, right?" Starlow guessed.

" _That's correct, Starlow. Now it's time! Use the Falling Star and save the Mushroom World from the eternal darkness!"_

"Okey-Dokey!" Mario nodded as Melissa's hologram leaves. He then rose the Falling Star into the air. "Falling Star!"

Mario tosses the star into the air, and many small yellow stars surrounded the heroes. They all began to throw as many of these small stars as possible at the star as it flies around. With that, the star crashes down at the core, followed by all of the small yellow stars that the heroes threw. In an instant that seemed like a fraction of seconds, the Dark Star's Core explodes.

Back outside, Bowser was witnessing Dark Bowser roaring in pain as soon as the Dark Star Core exploded, and he was flashing continuously in purple.

"GAAAAH! What's wrong with you? Your color is…weird! Well, whatever, I'll still win this fight, no prob!" Bowser smirked. He approaches Dark Bowser while raising his fist and announces: "And for the finale, one KO punch! HERE I GO!"

Bowser does a very powerful Sliding Punch at Dark Bowser, and eventually, he screams in pain and defeat and collapses on the floor. He then slowly kneels up and groans:

"Huuh huuh huuh… Haah haah haargh… I have fallen… To come so far… So far… To lose…"

"Hey… You just ACTED like me. That doesn't mean you ARE me. You're no match for the real deal, original Bowser…" Bowser replied while shaking his head with his arms crossed.

"Dark… Even with the dark power completed… The unthinkable happened…"

"Right… You…"

Suddenly, Dark Bowser explodes into some sort of orb, who flies down.

"LOST." Bowser finished his sentence.

The orb flies all the way down to the skies above Peach's damaged Castle and explodes, and all of the darkness in the sky cleared. With that, the entire Mushroom World was now finally free from the darkness thanks to the seven Star Children.

Speaking of which, the explosion of the orb also resulted in the Magical Stars coming out of it, and they all flew back into their respective owners' hearts, where they fell asleep again. Shortly after, the stars in the sky began to sparkle beautifully as Melissa slowly wakes up, with Bowser noticing her.

"…Melissa?" he spoke quietly.

"Bowser… I owe you and the other Star Children inside of you my thanks." Melissa smiled. "Thanks to you, the Dark Star is finally gone."

"Yeah. Pretty tough dude, all around." Bowser replied, smiling a bit. "But wait… How am I going to get everyone else out of my body?"

* * *

 _ **Inside Bowser…**_

"Why… The failing…" Dark Fawful's faint voice came in.

"Did you guys hear that?" Starlow asked.

"We did." Mario nodded with a serious expression in his face.

Everyone looked up and saw Dark Fawful, now with some of his teeth missing.

"What?! You're still at it?!" Wario flinched in unbelief.

"You…Star Children…with…why…fury…whenever… Fawful…just wanted…some kingdom conquering… Fawful tried… Fawful gave the 110 percents… Fawful worked the overtime… Fawful was the team player… Fawful put in the hours… Fawful got the hands dirty… But every time… Always… The mustaches and their friends…arrive… Always in Fawful's way… Alwaysalwaysalways…"

"Look, give up already. Seriously, get over it. You're done with evil." Donkey Kong spoke sternly as everyone nodded in agreement.

"I have remorse… Fawful understands… Fawful gives up… Fawful will disappear with no troubles…"

"Sounds good. No more evil, OK?" Starlow settled.

"Here Fawful goes… The disappearing… Forever disappearing… WITH YOU!" suddenly, he begins to grow large as he does his big grin and was surrounded in a bright light.

"WAIT, WHAT?!" Luigi's eyes widened.

Eventually, Dark Fawful explodes like a bomb, flinging everyone upwards.

* * *

 _ **Outside…**_

"GOOWCH!" Bowser begin to feel something in his mouth.

"What is it?!" Melissa asked worriedly.

"Hurts… Really hurts!"

"Hold on, don't tell me you'll…"

"NGGWAAARF!" Bowser suddenly opened his mouth, and to Melissa's surprise, everyone who was inside his body flew out!

"…AAAAAAAAAAHHH!" everyone who was launched out screamed before landing on the floor:

 ***THUD!***

"Urgh…" Donkey Kong groaned.

"Are we…out?" Luigi asked slowly.

"We are, bro." Mario smiled as everyone got up.

"Oh thank god!" Luigi beamed as he hugs Mario, who returns it.

"Oh, the brotherly love between the Mario Bros… It never gets old!" Yoshi chirped.

"No doubt about it, mate!" Donkey Kong agreed.

"And this all started all the way back in 1983…" Wario added.

"Looks like Fawful's final ploy failed at the last… His last ditch explosion rescued us all! As odd as that sounds." Starlow said.

"Everyone! You're okay!" Melissa rushed to the heroes.

"Melissa!" Peach exclaimed. "My, if it wasn't for you, we would've never beat the Dark Star by ourselves!"

"Well, that's the purpose of a star person. To help anyone in need. At last, our dear Mushroom World is saved. But I think all of the thanks should go to you all…and Bowser." She turns to Bowser at the last sentence.

"…Huh? Me?" Bowser asked while pointing to himself.

"Yes. You still might be Mario's enemy, but the world wouldn't be free of darkness if it wasn't for your strength. Even Mario and Peach are thankful for you." Melissa directs to Mario and Peach at the last sentence, who nodded to Bowser while smiling.

"Heh… Well, I think I did nice being an anti-villain for once…" Bowser replied embarrassed. Then, something came into his mind: "Hold up… If everything in here is saved, then that means…our alliance is over?"

" ***sigh*** I'm afraid so, Bowser." Mario sighed.

"Well, then… It was an honor working with you guys. You helped me get into troublesome situations a lot, and I… I thank you for that."

"Really?"

"Yeah… As weird as that sounds."

"Hmm, actually…" Melissa smirked. "We can't end this off yet, so how about one more final battle to end this story off with a bang?" she suggested.

"Hm, that idea doesn't sound bad!" Mario piped up.

"Yeah, why not?" Bowser smirked.

"Um… We'll be getting the heck out of here." Toad said as he and the other Toads, Toadsworth and Toadbert ran off.

"Let's stay on the sidelines and watch this epic showdown! The Mario Brothers versus Bowser!" Melissa exclaimed as she, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, Starlow and Peach stood back and watched Mario, Luigi and Bowser in their fighting stances.

"Just to let you know, Mario! I'm not going easy on you!" Bowser teased.

"Oh yeah? Let's see how this is going to end out!" Mario smirked.

"This is going to be fun to watch." Wario grinned as he munches on a large bowl of popcorn.

"Hey! I want some!" Yoshi begged. Wario then offers some popcorn to Yoshi.

"Where did you even get that popcorn from, mate?" Donkey Kong asked while scratching his head.

"Eh, I dunno." Wario shrugged.

The Mario Bros and Bowser first glared at each other before charging for each other. Bowser begins by breathing fire at the brothers, but they jumped out of the way. Bowser then manages to punch Luigi in the back, only for him to hammer his head afterwards.

Bowser proceeds to punch Mario in the same way he did to Luigi, but Mario jumped to avoid his punch, and even manages to stomp his head. After some more fighting, the Mario Bros finish Bowser off with their Green Shell Bros Attack.

The brothers and their friends who were watching them celebrated while Bowser lied on the ground looking badly injured. Melissa then says goodbye to everyone before using her magic to teleport everyone out of the Star Realm.

Bowser ends up teleporting next to his castle, where his minions, free from the brainwashing, carry him back into the damaged Bowser's Castle. Meanwhile, the heroes and all of the Toads are sent back to the front of the damaged Peach's Castle.

With that, repairs immediately started on both castles. At Bowser's Castle, we can see Koopas, Goombas, Shy Guys and Paratroopas fixing it, while at Peach's Castle, we can see various Toads working hard on fixing the castle.

Nearly at the end of the repairs at Bowser's Castle, Bowser, who was all bandaged up in his bed, was being nursed by none other than Kamek, who has been caring for him ever since he was a baby, giving him medicine into his mouth. In the same occasion, at the end of the repairs at Peach's Castle, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong and Starlow helped Peach prepare a special cake and they placed it carefully into a large gift tied with red ribbons. They next requested Birdley to deliver the package to Bowser.

* * *

Back at Bowser's Castle, the Elite Trio was watching Bowser lying on his bed.

"So, uh, King Bowser! How are you feeling?" Private Goomp asked.

"Listen, we… We wanna rejoin as minions…" Corporal Paraplonk spoke with guiltiness.

"Sir, it was an extreme error of judgment to trust Fawful." Sergeant Guy regretted. "We offer our unflinching allegiance back to you!"

"FYI! FYI! FYI! FYI! FYI! Message from Princess Peach, Mr. Mario, Mr. Luigi, Mr. Yoshi, Mr. Wario and Mr. DK!" Birdley's voice came in as he flies into the room with the package on his beak.

"Who disturbs me?!" Bowser yelled in annoyance. "Hey! Chase that stupid bird out of here NOW!"

"Your Rottenness, it's from Peach's Castle!" Kamek informed.

"Peach's Castle?!"

"From Peach, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong, apparently…" Kamek then looked at the Elite Trio. "Wait, Private Goomp! Sergeant Guy! And Corporal Paraplonk! You mutineers are still here?! Get out of here this instant!" he demanded bitterly.

"Waah!" Private Goomp cried quietly.

"Package! Package! Package from Princess Peach, Mr. Mario, Mr. Luigi, Mr. Yoshi, Mr. Wario and Mr. DK to Large Angry Bowser Guy!" Birdley sung before setting the gift in front of Bowser and leaving.

Bowser leans to the gift in curiosity…when suddenly, Starlow popped out of it, startling him.

"HELLO YELLO!" she saluted.

"What in the… YOU! What do YOU want?!" Bowser asked in anger.

"I thought you might attack Peach's Castle again, so… I came to check on you."

"Hmph! Hey, my castle got trashed too, y'know. That's my next project. Remodeling's not evil!"

"TEE HEE HEE HEE HEE! That's a great attitude!"

"Shut up! Go away!"

"Yes, yes, I'm going. Enjoy your present from the six Star Children!" Starlow leaves through the window.

"No! I don't want it!"

A moment of silence occurred until Kamek broke it:

"Your Ungratefulness… You won't open it?"

"Quiet, you! Go get back to work! Do something useful!" Bowser demanded.

"Sheesh… Take it easy…" Kamek rolled his eyes before leaving the room.

"And you minions, too! Go fix my castle!" Bowser said to the Elite Trio.

"Us minions… You mean… We're back in?" Private Goomp asked.

"Yes, just get to it! Next time, you'd better pull your weight beating Mario!"

"Thank you SOOO MUUUCH!" the Elite Trio yelled in happiness before they all left the room as well.

With only Bowser in the room, he looks around to make sure he was alone. Since there was nothing but silence, Bowser carefully lifts the gift's cap. And what was inside? A sweet vanilla cake decorated with white frosting, strawberries, eatable trees, chocolate mushrooms and sparking candles. But what was the biggest detail in this cake were the figurines of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong surrounding a drawing of Bowser's face made with chocolate printed in the middle.

We'll never know what the Koopa King's reaction to this was, but we're thankful that he at least checked the gift.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, at the Star Shrine…**_

Melissa was kneeled down next to the fairy who fell unconscious after her Viverna form was disabled. Soon, the fairy began to open her eyes.

"Oooooh…" she moaned.

"Oh, thank god you're awake." Melissa spoke. "Are you okay…Veronica?"

That fairy was none other than Veronica, the fairy of time!

"Melissa…? Where am I?" Veronica asked as she sat up.

"You're at my castle." Melissa answered. "So… You were Viverna all along? How did that happen?"

"Oh, yeah… It's coming back to me… Back when I sent the young heroes back to my time, Fawful somehow found his way into the past and kidnapped me. He sent me at this period and I was forced to eat an herb called the Poison Herb, which can corrupt the mind and gain poison powers when consumed. After eating the Herb, I felt my mind slowly changing and now I can't remember anything after that…"

"So that's how you ended up as Viverna… My, that was such a drastic change you've received. You became nearly unrecognizable!"

"I did?"

"Yes. But I'm glad that at least you're back to normal."

Melissa stands up and walks away. When Veronica managed to get back on her feet, she then heard a quiet giggle from Melissa.

"What's the matter?" Veronica wanted to know.

"Nothing, it's just some words that I received from my sister. Unlike me, who lives in the skies, my sister lives down below in a luxurious island that's not too far away from the Mushroom Kingdom. Because we live far away from each other, we like to share our own words." Melissa explained.

"And what did she say?"

"She said that she's planning to invite her best friends from the Mushroom World and from other faraway worlds to a vacation in her island next year."

Just by hearing the word 'vacation' made something come in Veronica's mind: she remembered that two little individuals from her period wanted to come back to this one to have a vacation of some sorts, and that she promised to accomplish their dream. She then flies to Melissa and requests:

"Say, I have a request for you, Melissa."

"Very well, what is it?" Melissa asked.

"Well, you see, there are two individuals from my period who wanted to have a vacation in this period. So I want you to send these words to your sister:" Veronica that whispers something in Melissa's ear.

"Got it." Melissa nodded. "I'll send those words to her soon."

"Great! Once that day arrives, I'll use my magic to send them to this time. I'm pretty sure they'll love this vacation!" Veronica smiled. "Alright, I should head back to my time."

Veronica uses her time-traveling magic to head back to the past after waving to Melissa. Once Veronica disappeared from sight, Melissa walks to her castle's balcony, looking at the starry skies of the Star Realm, and sends this message to the seven Star Children:

" _Star Children… You have done well… I have watched you ever since your childhood… As babies, you couldn't do much… Now, everyone grew super strong… You are amazing… I congratulate you all… And Bowser, I rarely give praise to the unenlightened… But you and the others truly are absolutely amazing. And now I go. But always remember this… No matter how time and years pass, I and the star people will be watching over you…always."_

 **The End**

* * *

 **And done! I had a lot of fun thinking outside the box to modify a lot of things in this story! Of course, I had to give different dialogue for Bowser, since I made him know that Mario and Co. are inside his body since the beginning. Thank you so much for all the ones who read for your support!  
**

 **Next up, comes the remake of the ONLY Mario & Luigi game I've actually played: Dream Team! As a tribute to being the only game of the series I've played, I'll make sure to make this remake as different and as special as possible just like with this story! **

**If you missed Sonic and his crew in this story, you don't have to worry; they'll be back in my Dream Team remake! Along with them, one character that showed up in this remake will show up, along with two characters that showed up in my Partners in Time remake (if you recall that last foreshadowing, you might know who they are.), and two new unlikely characters that you may not expect them to show in. All of these characters I've mentioned must be in my list of favorite characters in my profile.**

 **I'll upload the first chapter of my Dream Team remake somewhere at the beginning of July. Hope you'll look forward to it!**

 **Fairy out! ;D**


End file.
